Effect of oral 17-beta-oestradiol on the liver in women with intrahepatic cholestasis (hepatosis) during previous pregnancy.

The effects of 17-beta-oestradiol in 14 women who had had intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (hepatosis) were studied. This natural oestrogen was given orally in a daily dose of 5 mg for two 20-day periods with a 7-day interval between courses. The bromsulphthalein (BSP) retention rose during the treatment, but only occasionally to levels above the upper limit of normal. Other conventional liver function tests did not usually become abnormal. In a previous investigation in the same type of patients, we studied the effects of mestranol (a synthetic 17-alkylated oestrogen) in a daily dose of 0.1 mg with the same dose-schedule as the present investigation and 17-beta-oestradiol appeared to impair liver function less than mestranol. It might thus be safer to use 17-beta-oestradiol as a therapeutic agent.