Climacteric

Menopause rarely occurs as a sudden loss of ovarian function. For some years before menopause, the ovary begins to show signs of impending failure. Anovulation becomes common, with resulting unopposed estrogen production and irregular menstrual cycles (see Chapter 33). On occasion, heavy menses, endometrial hyperplasia, and increasing mood and emotional changes may occur. In some women, hot flashes (or flushes) and night sweats begin well before menopause is reached. These perimenopausal symptoms may last 3 to 5 years before there is complete loss of menses and postmenopausal levels of hormones are reached.

Some women may suffer a more abrupt loss of estrogen. This usually occurs following a surgical intervention that removes or damages the ovaries or their blood supply or, on occasion, following chemotherapy or radiotherapy for cancer. Women who reach menopause before the age of 40 years are said to have premature menopause or premature ovarian failure. Other causes of premature ovarian failure include abnormal karyotypes involving the X chromosome, the carrier state of the fragile X syndrome, galactosemia, and autoimmune disorders that may cause failure of a number of other endocrine organs.

Some women continue to produce estrogen indirectly in substantial amounts for many years after menopause. Androstenedione from the ovary and the adrenal gland is converted in peripheral fat tissues to estrone, which is then capable of maintaining the vagina, skin, and bone in reasonable cellular tone and reducing the incidence of flashes. Although this unopposed estrogen may be beneficial to women, it may also be responsible for the increased incidence of endometrial or breast cancer, particularly among obese women. For this reason, it is important that postmenopausal women have regular breast examinations and, if abnormal vaginal bleeding occurs, endometrial sampling.

The ovary produces a sequence of hormones during a normal menstrual cycle. Under the influence of luteinizing hormone (LH), cholesterol from the liver is used to produce the androgens androstenedione and testosterone in the theca cells of the ovarian follicle. They, in turn, are converted in the granulosa cells immediately surrounding the oocytes into estrogen. Following ovulation, the luteal cells (luteinized granulosa cells) manufacture and secrete progesterone as well as estrogen. The synthesis of these sex hormones depends on the presence of viable follicles and ovarian stroma and the production of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and LH in adequate amounts to induce their biosynthetic activity. The ovarian and adrenal (for comparison) steroid biosynthetic pathways are depicted in Figure 35-1.

FIGURE 35-1 Diagrammatic representation of the steroid biosynthetic pathways. Ovarian sex steroid pathways are in red and adrenal in blue. Cmpd B, corticosterone; Cmpd S, II-deoxycortisol; DH, hydroxylase; DHEA, dehydroepiandrosterone; DOC, desoxycorticosterone; LH, luteinizing hormone; P450c, cytochrome P450.

Loss of estrogen is associated with urogenital atrophy and osteoporosis (Table 35-1). Although postmenopausal women have a higher incidence of heart disease and of cancer, the relationship between these adverse events and reduced endogenous estrogen production, as well as the effects of hormonal therapy on them, remains unclear and controversial.

TABLE 35-1 CONSEQUENCE OF ESTROGEN LOSS