Ovarian effects of mitotane

Mitotane is an adrenolytic drug widely used to treat adrenocortical malignancies mainly due to its inhibitory action on adrenal steroidogenic cells. However it is unknown if this inhibitory effect is specific to the adrenal cortex or also concerns other steroidogenic glands such as the gonads. The ovarian effects of mitotane have not yet been studied despite the fact that Cushing's disease and adrenocortical carcinomas are more common in women and can occur before the menopause.

In order to evaluate the ovarian and gonadotropic effects of mitotane therapy in premenopausal women, Salenave et al. studied  21 premenopausal women. They report and discuss the unexpected occurrence of ovarian macrocysts in the women studied.

Read full article by Salenave et al, titled “Ovarian macrocysts and gonadotrope–ovarian axis disruption in premenopausal women receiving mitotane for adrenocortical carcinoma or Cushing's disease” European Journal of Endocrinology 2015 vol 172 iss 2 pp141-149. doi: 10.1530/EJE-14-0670