Long acting testosterone undecanoate: results after one year of treatment to hypogonadal men.

Rajmil, O⁽¹⁾; Sánchez - Curbelo, JR⁽¹⁾; Garza, E⁽¹⁾; Montañes, R⁽²⁾; Arrus- Soldi, JA⁽¹⁾

⁽¹⁾Servicio de Andrología, Fundación Puigvert ⁽²⁾Servicio de Laboratorios, Fundación Puigvert

Objective: Long acting parenteral testosterone undecanoate (TU) was recently introduced for androgen replacement therapy of hypogonadism in men. Currently study was undertaken to assess some haematological, biochemical and testosterone levels at nine to twelve months of treatment.
Material and methods: Twenty-nine hypogonadal men of different aetiologies were analyzed. All underwent treatment with TU 1000 mg. intramuscular every twelve weeks for nine to twelve months. Blood were drawn between 8.00 to 10.00 hr. am after a washout of previous treatment. A second sample was drawn the same day of the patient’s third or four doses of TU. Determinations of total plasma testosterone (TT), hematocrit, glycaemia, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides and prostate specific antigen (PSA) were done. Pre treatment TT was not taken in account for the study. Paired t-tests were used to compare results.
Results: Median age was 53 ± 14, 5, range 31-84 years. 77.7 % of men had TT between reference value (11 to 27 nmol/L); median 15.5 ± 9.1 SD, range 5.4 - 57.3 nmol/L.
In 13.6 % of patients were found low TT and in 9.09 % higher than reference. Hematocrit increased from 0.46 ± 0.03 SD to 0.48 ± SD 0.04 after treatment (p<0.05). PSA before were 1.58 ± 2.37 mcg/L post 1.82 ± 2.34 mcg/L; glycaemia: 5.3 ± 0.72 and post 5.4 ± 0.71 mmol/L; triglycerides: 1.20 ± 0.55 to 1.46 ± 0.91 mmol/L post; total cholesterol decrease from 5.09 ± 1.03 to 4.99 ± 0.93 mmol/L, all without statistical significance.
Conclusions: Present report shows that most hypogonadal men under TU treatment had TT plasma levels within normal range at almost one year, indicating adequacy of doses in most. Hematocrit increased with significance while other biochemical parameters and PSA were not statistical different. Results in this group of men indicates that this is a suitable replacement therapy with acceptable biochemical effects. Consequences of long term treatment need further evaluation.