Response to repetitive luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone stimulation in hypothalamic and pituitary disease

The gonadotropin response to 100 microgram of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LH-RH) administered three times intravenously at 2-hour intervals was measured to ascertain whether this would distinguish between patients with hypothalamic and those with pituitary disease. Responses in two patients with Kallmann's syndrome were compared to those in patients with other forms of hypothalamic or pituitary disease, including weight-loss amenorrhea, panhypopituitarism, and hyperprolactinemia. The conclusion was that a triple-bolus LH-RH test is not adequate to distinguish patients who are potentially treatable with LH-RH from those in whom no stimulation can be anticipated.