Therapeutic amenorrhoea induced by endometrial irradiation technique in mentally retarded women: neuropsychiatric aspects.

Menstruation may cause many difficulties in the care of mentally retarded women. We have applied the low-dose endometrial after-loading irradiation method for the termination of menstruation of such persons. So far, we have studied 29 women during the period 1970-1978. Twenty-two of them had earlier received gestagen treatment for the same purpose. The radiation dose was chosen in such a way that the dose in the endometrium was 14 Gy, giving an ovarian dose of about 4 Gy. One treatment gave a cessation of menstruation in 22 patients and two had minor flow with no clinical inconvenience, but five required a repeated irradiation. The hormonal changes after radiotherapy were found to be minor. The need for tranquilizers did not change. There were some changes in the frequency of epileptic seizures, possibly due to the termination of gestagen treatment, which has antiepileptic effects. The care of four of the 21 in-patients became so much easier after radiotherapy that they could be transferred to home care.