Steroids in Cancer

In summary, two sorts of information are obtained from assays of urinary oestriol and of pregnanediol in pregnancy. Firstly, as a guide to immediate clinical control and therapy. This is useful, but one needs to be critical and consider steroid results in the context of the whole case. The steroid values do not replace or over-ride other clinical findings but augment or modify them. The value of such steroid assays is in direct proportion to the length of time for which assays are done. Secondly, steroid assays give information about the physiology of pregnancy and labour. These hormones almost certainly playa role in the adaptations of pregnancy, in the growth and vitality of the foetus, in the onset and quality of labour. We know almost nothing about the mechanism of action of these steroids. It is their physiological role in the endocrinology of pregnancy that is a real growing point in pregnancy research and it is here that future advance must be looked for, rather than in the use of steroid assays as a direct aid in the treatment of abnormal pregnancy.