WHY IS TESTOSTERONE THERAPY FOR MEN IMPORTANT?
As commonly known, women experience a big drop in estrogen as they age, but your male patients may be surprised to learn that the same thing happens with their testosterone. The misleading signs involved with testosterone therapy, however, can be challenging to diagnose.
Men’s testosterone levels may decline about 1 percent per year after age 30 (healthline.com, 2021). In order to watch your male patient’s testosterone levels, we need to go back to the anatomy. And when we think about how testosterone is secreted ultimately by the testes, we need to think upwards first, towards the hypothalamus.
So, in the hypothalamus, we have two hormones that are made that are very important for downstream testosterone production. The first is the Gonadotropin-releasing hormone, or (GnRH), and then kisspeptin. These two hormones stimulate the production of FSH or follicle-stimulating hormone, and LH, luteinizing hormone. These two hormones are important in essentially providing a signal to the testes to produce testosterone, which is principally governed under the luteinizing hormone.
Testosterone is, in fact, not secreted at the same amount all throughout the day. The other thing is individuals may produce a different amount of testosterone on different days. And then finally, we have to think about how our labs can be influenced. And here I will talk a little bit more about something called sex hormone-binding globulin…
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Caroline Davidge-Pitts, MBBCh, an endocrinologist and assistant professor of medicine at Mayo Clinic, deep dives into testosterone therapy for men by reviewing three cases of testosterone loss: a 60-year-old man with low testosterone and elevated BMI, or body mass index. Our second case is going to be a 40-year-old man with low testosterone and chronic back pain requiring multiple steroid injections. And then a 74-year-old man with fatigue and low testosterone with a history of prostate cancer.
She covers any and all information you need to know, from the anatomy involved, to what to look out for in a clinical examination, and more, so you can feel completely prepared to recommend testosterone therapy appropriately.
Register today to watch the full lecture and gain access to ALL 5,000 medical lectures, surgical procedures, and course videos. Caroline Davidge-Pitts, an endocrinologist and assistant professor of medicine at Mayo Clinic, deep dives into testosterone therapy in men.
Learn more about:
- Regulation of testosterone secretion in men
- Challenges of diagnosis of male hypogonadism
- Risks and benefits of testosterone therapy in older men
- Monitoring the patient of testosterone therapy
- Available treatments for male hypogonadism
