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American association of clinical endocrinologists, american college of endocrinology, and androgen excess and pcos society disease state clinical review: guide to the best practices in the evaluation and treatment of polycystic ovary syndrome--part 1

Goodman NF, Cobin RH, Futterweit W, Glueck JS, Legro RS, Carmina E, American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE), American College of Endocrinology (ACE) et al.

Endocrine practice : official journal of the American College of Endocrinology and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, 2015

323 citations

Abstract

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is recognized as the most common endocrine disorder of reproductive-aged women around the world. This document, produced by the collaboration of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) and the Androgen Excess and PCOS Society (AES) aims to highlight the most important clinical issues confronting physicians and their patients with PCOS. It is a summary of current best practices in 2015. PCOS has been defined using various criteria, including menstrual irregularity, hyperandrogenism, and polycystic ovary morphology (PCOM). General agreement exists among specialty society guidelines that the diagnosis of PCOS must be based on the presence of at least two of the following three criteria: chronic anovulation, hyperandrogenism (clinical or biological) and polycystic ovaries. There is need for careful clinical assessment of women's history, physical examination, and laboratory evaluation, emphasizing the accuracy and validity of the methodology used for both biochemical measurements and ovarian imaging. Free testosterone (T) levels are more sensitive than the measurement of total T for establishing the existence of androgen excess and should be ideally determined through equilibrium dialysis techniques. Value of measuring levels of androgens other than T in patients with PCOS is relatively low. New ultrasound machines allow diagnosis of PCOM in patients having at least 25 small follicles (2 to 9 mm) in the whole ovary. Ovarian…

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