A pilot study assessing the impact of heat on the transdermal delivery of testosterone

This study evaluated the effect of locally applied heat on the transdermal delivery of testosterone. Six healthy adult volunteers were tested three ti mes while receiving a 5 mg androgen patch, the same patch with a heat-gener ating patch, and no patch at oil over 12 hours. Statistically significant d ifferences in mean maximum serum testosterone concentration values were see n. Heat plus patch resulted in a mean maximum serum testosterone concentrat ion of 939 ng/dl versus 635 ng/dl (patch only) and 425 ng/dl (no patch). (H eat + patch vs, no patch: p < 0.001; heat + patch vs. patch :p < 0. 001; pa tch vs. no patch:p = 0.003.) The area under the curve of plasma testosteron e concentration versus time values were means of 4114 ng/dl(.)h versus 1985 ng/dl(.)hfor the patch-only group (p 0.001). The use of heat improved abso rption of transdermal testosterone and decreased time to peak serum testost erone concentrations, resulting in a statistically significant difference i n mean maximum serum testosterone concentrations compared with the use of t he patch without heat.