Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Essay

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common and perplexing endocrine disorder of women in their reproductive years. It is a heterogenous syndrome which is characterized by persistent hyperandrogenic chronic anovulation frequently associated with hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance, resulting in menstrual irregularity , infertility and hirsuitism. Over the years investigators began to study the etiopathogenesis of this disorder and through many modifications of terminology the condition has now come to be known as “polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)”. The phenotypic variability of PCOS explain why it is defined as a syndrome and not a disease. A syndrome is a cluster of symptoms, which cannot be explained under the prism of a common etiologic factor or a unifying pathophysiological pathway. Women with PCOS manifest hyperandrogenemia, hyperinsulinemia, and hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis aberrations, as well as adipose tissue dysfunctional adipokine secretion, all of …show more content…
In 1844, Chereau described sclera-cystic changes in human ovaries. In early 20th century , polycystic ovaries were thought to be the result of inflammation due to infection ,congestion due to pressure or partial torsion that disrupted normal blood flow to ovary or from dystrophy due to abnormalities in the ovarian nutrition. Androgen production of ovaries was not recognized till early 1900’s. The first case of a patient with glucose intolerance ,hirsuitism, and ovarian pathology was reported by Tuffier in 1914. In 1921, the French physician Achard and Thiers provided the first description of relationship androgen excess in women and carbohydrate metabolism, which was dubbed as “diabetic des femma a barbe” (diabetes of bearded