Can Clinical/ Endocrinal Surrogates Predict Specific Hormone Therapy in Nasopharyngeal Angiofibroma? Current Evidence

Objective: In an attempt to rationalize Hormone therapy (HT) in juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibroma (JNA) this study intends to investigate the pituitary axis and clinical profile to further establish dominant hormonal-environment based upon secondary sexual characteristics along with other novel possibilities for HT. Design: Prospective observational study. Setting: Tertiary health care centre. Participants: Thirty-three patients were analysed in terms of age, secondary sexual characteristics (SSC), staging, preoperative serum-hormone profile and weight/ volume of excised tumour. Main outcome measures: Serum levels of prolactin, testosterone, oestrogens, progesterone, LH and secondary sexual characteristics. Results: Significant correlation was seen between LH/ testosterone/ estrogen on one hand while LH/ GH/ progesterone on other. LH/ testosterone correlated with age, tumour weight, & almost all SSC. Oestrogen correlated with age, & all SSC (except facial hair/ laryngeal prominence/ deepening of voice). Accordingly, 2 sets of SSC (clinical surrogate markers) defined estrogenic or androgenic predominance in JNA. Conclusions: The clinical surrogates may indirectly reflect corresponding receptor activity (rather than isolated hormone level) and provide a better rationale for selecting a particular HT.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12070-025-05487-4.