[Specialized sensory perception in women with polycystic ovaries]

Specialized sensory perception was examined in 20 women with polycystic ovary syndrome and in 20 healthy women with normal ovulatory genital cycle. None of the healthy women disclosed any anomaly in sensory perception while with no exception all patients with polycystic ovary syndrome disclosed anomalies in sensory perception of one or other sensory analyzer. Defects in smell (hypoosmis) were more common (19 cases) than those of taste (hypogeusia) (II cases), of vestibular (14 cases) or auditory (3 cases) function, although defects in two or more analyzers occurred together in most of the cases. The association of the syndrome with anomalies in the sensory perception suggested that various central nervous structures beside these controlling the releasing factors are involved in the pathomechanism of the disease and that specialized sensory perception in man has much more to do with the neuroendocrine system than previously believed.