J.Jpn. Surg. Soc.. 60(4): 715-731, 1959

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THE CLINICAL AND PATHOLOGICAL STUDIES OF THE EFFECT OF TESTOSTERONE FOR SO-CALLED MASTOPATHY

The condition referred as so called “mastopathy” has been generally considered to be a precancerous lesion. The extirpation of this lesion is just routine procedure on this aspect. On the other hand, some authorities denied close relationship between this disease and the breast cancer.
I have studied clinically and patho-morphologically on the following points; the first whether the administration of testosterone is really beneficial or not for this disease and the second whether it is possible to inhibit the process of malignant change of this lesion with the use of testosterone.
As a conservative treatment of this disease, I have administered male hormon in the form of “testosterone-depot” to 101 patients. The clinical effects of testosterone-depot for this disease have been studied on 93 cases out of them. Pain, chiefly premenstrual, of the breast was disappeared in 89.1% of the cases within average 2, 3 months after the administration of the average doses of 169.8 mg. The tumors in the breast also decreased in size or became soft in 63.7% of the cases with average doses of 241.2 mg of the hormone within 2.8 months of average preriod. Nevertheless, even after about 4.6 months and 440.9 mg of its trial, disappearance of tumor took place only in 16.6% of the cases.
In the cases of the mixed use of testosterone with estrogen or progesteronc, the clinical effects were less efficient than in those cases of testostrone alone. This was probably because the total amount of testosteron in the formor cases was smaller than that of the latter or because the effects of estrogen would have decreased the influence of testosterone.
Histological changes after the use of testosterone has been studied on 35 cases. The epithelial cells of the mammary gland became highly atrophic and intralobular stroma showed marked fibrosis with reactive cellular infiltrations. The changes associated with the menstrual cycle were obscured. However, these atrophic tendencies described above were not noticed in the typical areas of mastopathy such as cysts formation, epithelial hyperplasia, intraductal papilloma and apocrine metaplasia of the epithelium. I, therefore, believe that those lesions of mastopathy are irreversible and atrophy does not take place by the use of testosterone.
In addition, there was a case which developed a breast cancer 4 months after the discontinuation of the testosterone depot.
(author's abstract)

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