010 Study on the Effect of Systemic Treatment with Testosterone on Clitoral Vascular Resistance in Basal Conditions

Extract

Introduction

Preclinical studies show that, in the clitoris, testosterone (T) is necessary to maintain a functional contractile and relaxant machinery, which represents the underlying mechanism of the peripheral arousal response. Although there is clinical evidence suggesting that T treatment significantly improves multiple domains of sexual functioning, the vascularization of clitoral tissue and its regulation by sex steroids are still under-investigated.

Objective

Our aim was to evaluate the effect of systemic treatment with T on clitoral hemodynamic parameters as assessed by clitoral color Doppler ultrasound (CDU).

Methods

In this observational, prospective pilot study, 71 women (mean age 46.49±14.13 years), including 31 menopausal women (43.7%) attending our clinic for sexual symptoms (in particular, sexual arousal disorder) were recruited and treated with transdermal T (approximately 3 mg/die; n=19), intravaginal estradiol (E; cream or tablet; n=9), combined therapy (T+E; n=8) or non-hormonal therapy (local gel, sex or psychiatric therapy, n=35). Clitoral CDU with evaluation of clitoral artery peak systolic velocity (PSV) was performed at baseline and after 6 months of treatment. Our experimental model is designed for basal conditions, in the absence of any sexual stimulation, in order to exclude a central effect of T administration.