This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Goldfarb, S. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Goldfarb, S.

Sex Hormones and Hepatic Neoplasia¹

Department of Pathology, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine, Madison, Wisconsin 53706

The recent increase in hepatocellular neoplasms in women of child-bearing age taking oral contraceptives and in individuals of both sexes taking anabolic androgenic steroids is a phenomenon that requires urgent attention. Although most of the lesions are benign, reports of carcinomas in a few of these individuals and our own observation of an adenoma that shows borderline malignant transformation suggest that some of the adenomas are premalignant lesions.

The pathology of our own cases and those reported in the literature are reviewed, and hypotheses are offered for a carcinogenic role of synthetic steroid sex hormones. These speculations are based on known toxic and metabolic actions of the drugs and are amenable to experimentation.

¹ Presented at the Conference "Early Lesions and the Development of Epithelial Cancer," October 21 to 23, 1975, Bethesda, Md.