Vasomotor symptoms, serum estrogens, and gonadotropin levels in surgical menopause

Hormonal parameters of young women who developed vasomotor symptoms in the immediate postoperative period following castration are compared to those who remained asymptomatic. Only 37.5 per cent of 16 premenopausal women developed "hot flushes" after operation. Perimenopausal women with vasomotor symptoms and elevated follicle-stimulating hormone levels demonstrated normal luteinizing hormone and estrogen values preoperatively. There were no statistically significant differences in total serum estrogen, follicle-stimulating hormone, or luteinizing hormone concentrations between the group of patients with symptoms and the group withoyt symptoms. The results of the study indicate that rising gonadotropin or declining estrogen values appear to have no direct correlation to the onset of vasomotor symptoms in the immediate postoperative period. Thus, the precise etiology of the "hot flush" remains to be elucidated.