Endokrinoloji ve Metabolizma Hastalıkları BD, GATA İstanbul

It has been suggested that serum testosterone levels, associated with impaired pulmonary function tests (PFT), might decrease in patients with chronic lung diseases. Although hormone replacement was reported to be beneficial, the role of hypotestosteronemia independent from the pathogenesis of the primary disease is not clear. We aimed to investigate the direct effect of hormone replacement on PFT in patients with hypogonadism, which is characterized by low testosterone levels. Sixty-six male patients, aged 24.35±3.20, non-smoker, with a normal body mass index (BMI), wit hout any systemic or respiratory disease except for hypogonadism needing hormone replacement therapy as indicated by department of endocrinology, were enrolled. Posteroanterior chest radiography, whole-blood count, routine biochemistry, along with free testosterone, follicle stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, prolactin, thyroid stimulating hormone, cortisole and estradiol measurements were performed in all patients. Spirometric PFT measurements were performed. After basement tests patients were given intramuscular 250 mg testosterone propianate every 2 weeks for 6 months, and tests and measurements were repeated at the end of 6 months. . Post-treatment serum testosterone levels increased significantly. BMI remained unchanged but hematocrit and hemoglobin levels significantly increased. Of the PFT measurements maximum voluntary ventilation (MVV), peak expiratory flow (PEF) and forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) were significantly increased comparing to pretreatment values. We took p<0.05 as the level of significance. We suggest that androgen replacement in patients with hypoandrogenemic hypogonadism results in improved PFT. The mechanism for this improvement needs to be explored by further studies involving respiratory muscle mass and strength.