Our Third International Conference was rated a great success by the over 100 delegates who attended.

The venue was the historic Royal Society, Carlton House Terrace, London, SW1, which celebrates the achievements of British Scientists for over five hundred years. Established since 1660, the Royal Society has been at the forefront of scientific enquiry and discovery and has promoted the advance of science, engineering and technology worldwide. Among the eminent members of the Society have been Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Ernest Rutherford, Albert Einstein, Dorothy Hodgkin and Stephen Hawking. We felt honoured to be there, and  the building added a dramatic sense of occasion.

The theme of the meeting was ‘Androgens and Men’s Health’ and the presentations demonstrated ever more clearly, the extensive and vital role of male hormones in developing, maintaining and protecting health throughout life.

If you ever thought testosterone was only about sex, you need to change that view right now, as within the overall body of scientific work there were a number of sub-themes which clearly illustrated the multiplicity of essential functions to which androgens are necessary.

The importance of androgens in Primary Care Medicine was the theme emerging from the papers of Prof. Louis Gooren, (primary care) Prof. Richard Eastell, (bone) Prof. Jesper Mehlesen (peripheral circulation) and Dr. Tom Trinick (diabetes).

The theme of metabolism also present in Dr. Tom Trinick’s work was echoed in poster presentations from Dr. Svetlana Kalintchenko, Prof. Andrzej Gomulka, and Dr. Neil Burman.

Not the most popular of topics at present , it seems, and yet the emerging work on the involvement of androgens in the function of the brain and the link between androgen deficiency and Alzheimer’s Disease may prove to be one of the most significant. According to this year’s report from the Alzheimers Research Trust, over the next 30 years, the number of patients suffering from dementia, of which two thirds will be Alzheimer sufferers, is set to nearly double to three quarters of a million in the UK.

This will clearly have significant financial implications for the British NHS and for health services worldwide. In the UK alone, the budget for care of Alzheimer’s patients will increase from £3.3 billion to £7.9 billion by 2031.

An androgen based solution to prevention or treatment of this and related conditions would be a major breakthrough. Papers by Dr. Eva Hogervorst, Prof. Suzanna Petancesca, Prof. Lorenzo Refolo, Prof. Robert Tan and Prof. Ralph Martins examine the evidence in this area of research.

Prostate function and prostate cancer is a continuing area of interest for the majority of doctors. This was highlighted by the presentations from Mr. Mark Feneley, Prof. Aksam Yassin and Dr. Joel Kaufman. Reassurance about the safety of prescribing testosterone in patients recovering from prostate cancer and the emerging notion that low testosterone levels may be a contributory factor in development of this condition, were some of the issues which were covered in this theme.

Sexual function, not surprisingly, was also a topic of interest, with poster presentations by Dr. Stefan Uekert (plasma testosterone levels) and Dr. Alfredo Belzuzarri looking at the possibility of web diagnosis of erectile dysfunction.

Nor were the evergreen controversies around diagnosis of the andropause absent. Prof. Bruno Lunenfeld, covered the current European recommendations for diagnosis, in his outstanding presentation, and posters by Dr. Clement Williams, Prof. Juha Makinen and Dr. Neil Burman also explored aspects of this topic.

Prof. Lunenfeld, Clem Williams and Dr. Bruce Biundo went on to consider aspects of hormonal replacement in men, including safety issues and characteristics of different hormonal preparations.

Finally, posters by Prof. Andrzej Gomula and joint authors, Dr. Romil Stanislavov and Mrs. Vessela Nikolova from Bulgaria, contributed to the more controversial theme of possible approaches to anti-aging.

In the last pleniary session of the conference, delegates from the seventeen countries represented at the conference spoke of the clinical work going on in their countries, and how this could be helped by TAS.

In particular, the need for a teaching course on the diagnosis and treatment of androgen deficiency was emphasized by the delegates. It was agreed that this would be one of the major goals of TAS over the coming year.

Abstracts of the conference papers, and the speakers details, are now available on line.

Dr Malcolm Carruthers MD FRC Path MRCGP