Dr. Abraham Morgentaler

So in every city, there would be a handful of men with these rare conditions, and the endocrinologist learned how to treat those guys. But the idea that you could treat a regular guy without a pituitary tumor with two testicles wasn't known. But I went to the endocrinologist, the senior person. I said, how do you treat with testosterone? At Harvard or somewhere else?

So in every city, there would be a handful of men with these rare conditions, and the endocrinologist learned how to treat those guys. But the idea that you could treat a regular guy without a pituitary tumor with two testicles wasn't known. But I went to the endocrinologist, the senior person. I said, how do you treat with testosterone? At Harvard or somewhere else?

Yeah, at my hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. And she said, oh, it's easy. You give 200 milligrams of testosterone, cipionate every four weeks. So that's what I did. And the patients came back. And what I told you, all the good stories they had to say were true. But every one of these first guys I lined up said, but doctor, I got to tell you.

Yeah, at my hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. And she said, oh, it's easy. You give 200 milligrams of testosterone, cipionate every four weeks. So that's what I did. And the patients came back. And what I told you, all the good stories they had to say were true. But every one of these first guys I lined up said, but doctor, I got to tell you.

For a week or two before my next injection, all my symptoms comes back. What's up with that? And I joke that it's like a bad version of a double-blind experiment because the patient didn't know and I didn't know. I didn't know what was going on. So they feel so much better and then they don't until I started checking blood tests on these men.

For a week or two before my next injection, all my symptoms comes back. What's up with that? And I joke that it's like a bad version of a double-blind experiment because the patient didn't know and I didn't know. I didn't know what was going on. So they feel so much better and then they don't until I started checking blood tests on these men.

And it turned out by two weeks, everybody's blood level of testosterone had returned to their baseline low value. And so what I learned from that, from the first three patients was that, because there's no way the guys knew what their blood levels were. I didn't know, right? I said, guys can tell when their levels are good and they can tell when their levels are low.

And it turned out by two weeks, everybody's blood level of testosterone had returned to their baseline low value. And so what I learned from that, from the first three patients was that, because there's no way the guys knew what their blood levels were. I didn't know, right? I said, guys can tell when their levels are good and they can tell when their levels are low.

It changes almost on a daily basis. They can tell the moment that they drop. So I said, this is real. This is no placebo effect. And so that gave me, and they didn't get prostate cancer. Were you worried? You must have been. Oh, I was terrified. I was terrified. I spent most of my career terrified.

It changes almost on a daily basis. They can tell the moment that they drop. So I said, this is real. This is no placebo effect. And so that gave me, and they didn't get prostate cancer. Were you worried? You must have been. Oh, I was terrified. I was terrified. I spent most of my career terrified.

Well, I'll tell you. So I pushed the envelope in a lot of different ways. So the first hurdle was just, can you give testosterone without making it so these guys get prostate cancer? Where it went next was that there were men who had like pre-cancers, we called them.

Well, I'll tell you. So I pushed the envelope in a lot of different ways. So the first hurdle was just, can you give testosterone without making it so these guys get prostate cancer? Where it went next was that there were men who had like pre-cancers, we called them.

A technical term is prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia, PIN, which we used to think meant if somebody had a biopsy and they had PIN, we said, oh, there's got to be a cancer hiding in there somewhere, and we would re-biopsy them, like within weeks. And I gave testosterone to these guys with these pre-cancers. Nothing happened. Published that data.

A technical term is prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia, PIN, which we used to think meant if somebody had a biopsy and they had PIN, we said, oh, there's got to be a cancer hiding in there somewhere, and we would re-biopsy them, like within weeks. And I gave testosterone to these guys with these pre-cancers. Nothing happened. Published that data.

and then gave it to men after they'd been probably cured of their cancer by surgery. There's about a 15% recurrence rate after surgery, so you never know. And then eventually, near the end of my career, even gave it to men who had metastatic cancer or their cancers had come back. And at every point, I was still worried that maybe something bad is going to happen to her. And? It never happened.

and then gave it to men after they'd been probably cured of their cancer by surgery. There's about a 15% recurrence rate after surgery, so you never know. And then eventually, near the end of my career, even gave it to men who had metastatic cancer or their cancers had come back. And at every point, I was still worried that maybe something bad is going to happen to her. And? It never happened.

Never once. So this metastatic cancer thing is amazing. So today the controversy is, so I think everybody is clear out in the medical community, pretty much, that giving testosterone does not increase the rate of cancer compared to a placebo. The biggest study that we've had is called Traverse, came out about a year and a half ago in 2023. Numbers of cancers in the testosterone group were 12.

Never once. So this metastatic cancer thing is amazing. So today the controversy is, so I think everybody is clear out in the medical community, pretty much, that giving testosterone does not increase the rate of cancer compared to a placebo. The biggest study that we've had is called Traverse, came out about a year and a half ago in 2023. Numbers of cancers in the testosterone group were 12.

Number in placebo was 11. This is over 5,000 men, three years of follow-up roughly. It's the same. It's the same. And so that part is kind of clear. Giving testosterone to men who have prostate cancer, that's still controversial. But I've treated many hundreds and hundreds of men like that. Never seen anything bad happen.

Number in placebo was 11. This is over 5,000 men, three years of follow-up roughly. It's the same. It's the same. And so that part is kind of clear. Giving testosterone to men who have prostate cancer, that's still controversial. But I've treated many hundreds and hundreds of men like that. Never seen anything bad happen.