Urinary bile acids in women treated with contraceptive steroids. A study using computerized gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Twenty-five different bile acids were determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry in 24 hour urine specimens before and during treatment with a commercial contraceptive drug. Neither excretion pattern nor individual amounts of bile acids showed any change during treatment of 4 healthy women. One woman with a history of recurrent cholestasis of pregnancy showed a slight increase in the levels of S-ALAT and total amount of urinary bile acids one day before she stopped taking the pill because of generalized itching. Another patient had a normal pattern of urinary bile acids after one year with a daily intake of 10 mg of estradiol valerate.