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pubmed:otherAbstract |
PIP: To determine the levels of endogenous immunoreactive estrogens in women taking medroxyprogesterone as a contraceptive agent, 20 healthy parous women who had received intramuscular injections of 150 mg of medroxyprogesterone acetate every 12th week for 18 months, were studied by radioimmunoassay of blood samples taken between contraceptive injections. Plasma estrogen was found to rise significantly at the end of each 12-week injection period (p less than .01), indicating continuation of cyclic ovarian activity despite the medroxyprogesterone, which apparently does not accumulate in the body. The ratio of estradiol to estrone content in 10 samples studied was about 2:1, which is normal. All of the estrogen determinations made within the 12-week period were within the normal range of levels expected to be found in normal women in the early follicular phase of their menstrual cycle. No sign of an estrogen lack was found in any of the patients.
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