Serum dihydrotestosterone in patients with benign prostatic hypertrophy.

Serum dihydrotestosterone (DHT) and testosterone were measured by radioimmunoassay in 24 normal men aged 60 to 80 years and in 25 patients with benign prostatic hypertrophy in the same age range. There was a significant increase in the level of dihydrotestosterone in patients with prostatic hypertrophy but no significant difference was found between the testosterone levels of the 2 groups. The scatter of the individual values for DHT indicated that this measurement has little practical clinical application in the diagnosis of prostatic hypertrophy. It is suggested that the increase in DHT may be due, at least in part, to a prostatic contribution to the circulating level and the relevance of this observation in relation to the aetiology of benign prostatic hypertrophy is discussed.