Treatment of anorchia with oral testosterone undecanoate: pharmacodynamics and clinical effectiveness

Abstract

The pharmacodynamics of plasma testosterone (T) and androstenedione (A) levels were studied in 10 hypogonadal boys after oral administration of testosterone undecanoate (TU). Plasma T and A levels were measured by specific radioimmunoassays. Six hours after a single dose of 120 mg TU, there was a significant increase (P < 0.005) in plasma T and A with a median T peak level of 940 ng/100 ml. Furthermore, 12 agonadal boys treated with a mean dose of 60 mg TU/day were examined over a period of 18-24 mo. During this therapy, plasma T and A levels were significantly higher than before (P < 0.005), whereas plasma levels of lutropin and follitropin did not decrease significantly. With the exception of 1 anorchic boy, all patients showed signs of sexual maturation such as growth of pubic and axillary hair, in addition to steady development of bone age during oral TU treatment.