To investigate the clinical efficacy and safety of the
finasteride (5 mg/day) plus
flutamide (125 mg/day) combination
therapy in unselected women with
hirsutism, 44 women were involved in the study. The effects of such combination treatment have not been reported previously. The patients were assigned to 3 treatment groups: 14 patients (group 1) were treated with
finasteride (5 mg per day), 16 patients (group 2) were treated with
flutamide (125 mg per day), and 14 patients (group 3) were treated with
finasteride (5 mg per day) plus
flutamide (125 mg per day) for 12 months. Serum FSH, LH,
estradiol, total
testosterone, free
testosterone,
androstenedione, DHEAS, and SHBG were obtained.
Hirsutism score was measured before and
after treatment. Blood chemistry and side effects were evaluated during the study. The reductions in
hirsutism score (% of the baseline) at 6 months were as follows: 24% for group 1, 35% for group 2, and 33% for group 3. Combination
therapy resulted in (49%) similar improvement to
flutamide alone (45%), but significantly (p<0.05) more efficacious improvement in
hirsutism when compared to
finasteride (32%) after 12 months of treatment. In conclusion,
flutamide is more effective than
finasteride and the combination of these two drugs is not better than
flutamide alone, but better than
finasteride in hirsute women.