The Polyfollicular Anovulatory Hyperandrogenic Syndrome: A New Label for an Old Syndrome

Abstract

Polycystic ovary syndrome is a hormonal disorder common among women of reproductive age. The affected women may have infrequent or prolonged menstrual cycles or excess male hormone levels with manifestations of hyperandrogenemia. The ovaries may fail to ovulate with many arrested follicles at the primordial stage. There was a time when the medical profession honored its members by naming diseases after them and that was the case with Stein and Leventhal syndrome which was later changed to the polycystic ovary syndrome. Since then, our understanding to the syndrome had changed dramatically. It is now not just a mere association of symptoms with some ultrasonographic features, but rather a complex hormonal and metabolic abnormalities with a wide spectrum of variable clinical presentations. Hence, there is an obvious need for a new name to reflect these abnormalities. This article explains the existing problem with the current name and suggests a new system to rename the syndrome.