[Mental anorexia: gonadotrophic response to clomifene citrate. Sixteen cases]

Sixteen patients with anorexia nervosa and secondary amenorrhoea received clomiphene citrate, eight before any other treatment (200 mg of clomiphene citrate per day for four days) and eight others after partial or total correction of weight loss (50 mg of clomiphene citrate per day for five days). Menstruation occurred in four patients of the second group. An elevation of plasma LH was demonstrated in 4 cases in the first group and 7 of the second group. Variation in FSH was not always parallel with LH. The authors discuss the physiopathological mechanism of gonadotrophic insufficiency in anorexia nervosa and define the role of clomiphene citrate in the treatment of this disorder.