A comparative study of peritoneal fluid concentrations of oestradiol-17 beta, progesterone, and testosterone in controls and in patients with endometriosis.

To ascertain whether a cyclical variation exists in the steroid hormone concentration of the peritoneal fluid between controls and patients with endometriosis, we set out to measure the concentration of oestradiol--17 beta (E2), progesterone (P4), and testosterone (T) by specific radioimmunoassay in the peritoneal fluid of these 2 groups. Forty six patients (mean age, 30.1 +/- 6 years) with pelvic endometriosis and 32 control patients (mean age, 32.2 + 3.8 years) without endometriosis were studied. The significance of differences between groups was determined by the Mann-Whitney mu test. In the control group a significant rise in peritoneal fluid E2 (P = 0.017) and P4 (P = 0.048) levels was observed in the luteal phase compared to the follicular phase, but no such difference was noted in women with endometriosis. It is suggested that peritoneal fluid steroid hormone assays are not helpful in the evaluation of ovarian function in endometriosis.