[Estrogen feedback tests in women with laryngeal carcinomas]

The high incidence ratio males to females is the reason for considering a hormonal dependency of these tumours for many years. The low incidence of laryngeal cancer in women has generally been suggested as being due to "oestrogen defense". Although we do have some circumstantial evidence in the meantime, no final evidence on this topic is available so far.

The oestrogen feedback effect could be another more objective parameter to bring more light to the research of this question. As one of the regulation mechanisms of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis the oestrogen feedback mechanism represents the regulation of LH and FSH production in the pituitary gland by peripheral oestrogens. The mechanism is known to exist lifelong under normal conditions. Whereas the positive oestrogen feedback is typical for women, a negative response pattern is mostly found in men. The positive response pattern is characterised by increasing LH values, higher than the starting level, on the 3 th and 4 th day after intravenious application of oestrogens.

The results of the present investigation show some difference. 5 of 6 examined women with laryngeal cancer were found to have a clearly negative oestrogen feedback, whereas 4 of 5 healthy women had a positive oestrogen feedback effect. 5 healthy men showed the typical negative effect for men.

We may assume a narrow relationship between the male regulation type and the occurrence of laryngeal cancer in women, if further trials including more patients are able to reproduce these results.