6-Week testosterone replacement trial advocated. (Sexual Dysfunction).

WINNIPEG, MAN. -- Women with sexual dysfunction whose free testosterone levels are in the bottom third of the normal range or below normal should be considered for a trial of androgen replacement therapy, Dr. John Lamont advised.

"We make an arbitrary decision that if women are in the bottom third of normal [levels] and there are no other major issues that could be interfering with their desire such as relationship problems or medications, we give them a 3-month trial of androgen replacement," he said at the annual meeting of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada.

"Our goal [is] to move them from where they start up into the top third of normal range and keep them there for 3 months to see if that will affect sexual function," he said in an interview.

Dr. Lamont, professor emeritus of obstetrics and gynecology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont., advised physicians to consider at least a 6-week trial.

No androgen replacement therapy is currently approved in the United States for women.

Dr. Lamont, who is on the speaker's bureau for Berlex Laboratories, Pharmacia Corp., and Organon Inc., explained that patients coming to his sexual medicine clinic complaining of inhibited sexual desire are carefully screened for androgen deficiency syndrome.

One of the main problems with measuring a woman's free testosterone level is that different measuring techniques can yield markedly different levels. In addition, the upper limits of normal vary substantially between labs, added Dr. Stephen Bates, who also spoke at the meeting.