Ovulation Inhibition by Progestin-Estrogen Combination
Garcia, C.R.; Pincus, G.
International Journal of Fertility 9: 95-105
1964
ISSN/ISBN: 0020-725X PMID: 14106273 Document Number: 506048
Well over 3000 women were studied in long-term ovulation inhibition studies using Enovid alone. The comparative studies at the lower dosages of approximately 2 mg of the progestin and 100γ of mestranol indicate very slight differences between Enovid, Orthonovum, and S O 11800 (Ethynodiol), except for perhaps a slightly greater amount of breakthrough bleeding with the low-dosage Enovid and a slightly increased tendency to weight gain with Orthonovum during the early cycles. In the longterm Enovid patients there are at present not quite 2000 women actively participating, with more than 250 having been in the program for over 4 years. In Massachusetts there are 3 women who probably represent the longest term of continuous treatment, having been on medication for 20 days in each cycle since early in 1955. These cases are being followed carefully and, like those in Haiti and Puerto Rico, have shown no untoward effects in metabolic studies such as those on the liver, thyroid, pancreas, adrenals, etc. It was only through such collaborative efforts as these that this effective, applicable method of continued ovulation has been evolved. Greater efforts in this area are needed. A plea is made for more researchers of the basic sciences to focus their major attention on human studies, and for more clinicians to focus their attention and collaboration on the basic sciences. With such efforts it will be possible to learn of not only the detailed mechanisms of inhibition of ovulation but also the mechanism required to evoke and predict its impending occurrence.