Mamas, L., & Mamas, E. (2009). Premature ovarian failure and dehydroepiandrosterone. Fertility and Sterility, 91(2), 644-646. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2007.11.055
Mamas L, Mamas E. Premature ovarian failure and dehydroepiandrosterone. Fertil Steril. 2009;91(2):644-646. doi:10.1016/j.fertnstert.2007.11.055
Mamas, Leonidas, and Eudoxia Mamas. "Premature ovarian failure and dehydroepiandrosterone." Fertility and Sterility, vol. 91, no. 2, 2009, pp. 644-646.
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Five women with premature ovarian failure became pregnant on DHEA
In a case series of five women with premature ovarian failure, all five became pregnant after taking DHEA, and each woman's FSH level fell. FSH is the pituitary signal that rises when the ovaries stop responding. Treatment lasted 2 to 6 months, and the authors reported no side effects.
Key Findings
All 5 women with premature ovarian failure became pregnant after DHEA treatment.
FSH (follicle-stimulating hormone) fell in all 5 women between the start of treatment and the later measurement.
One woman gave birth to a healthy boy by C-section. Three pregnancies were still ongoing at 27, 14 and 11 weeks. One ended in a missed abortion at 7 weeks.
Three women conceived naturally. One conceived after intrauterine tubo-peritoneal insemination.
DHEA was given for 2–6 months and stopped once pregnancy was confirmed by a test and then an ultrasound scan. No side effects were reported.
Interpretation
The paper is a case series of five women treated at an IVF center in Athens, described by its authors as promising initial findings of an ongoing study. Premature ovarian failure means the ovaries lose function before age 40, with high FSH and low estrogen. Two of the five women had been referred for egg donation, and two had gone through earlier failed IVF cycles. The decision to continue, change or stop DHEA rested on hormone levels, periods and conception. Three pregnancies were unfinished when the report was written.
RRM Context
Restorative reproductive medicine looks for ways to support the ovary's own function. Premature ovarian failure is often treated as a dead end that leads to egg donation. The authors cite a systematic review in which 6.3% of women with the condition became pregnant on conventional therapies. Larger studies of DHEA in this diagnosis would build on these five cases.
Our editorial summary of this paper, not the article's abstract.
Abstract
Since the first successful birth at our center following treatment with DHEA in a patient with premature ovarian failure (POF), all subsequent patients with POF underwent the same treatment protocol. Receiving very encouraging results (FSH level was decreased in the first five patients and all achieved pregnancy), it was decided to study the action of DHEA for a reasonable length of time and in a larger number of patients to confirm the effectiveness of this particular therapeutic regime.
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