Oxymetholone in the Treatment of Anæmia in Chronic Renal Failure

SUMMARY Oxymetholone 100 mg. per day was given to 60 patients in chronic renal failure, 55 of whom were receiving regular hæmodialysis. Thirty‐nine of the dialysed patients completed a cross‐over double blind trial of oxymetholone, 30 of them taking the active drug for 3 months; there was no significant change in hæmoglobin or hæmatocrit. No significant change occurred in liver function tests and the only side effect that appeared more than occasionally was a characteristic fattening of facial tissues which reverted to normal after withdrawal of the drug. One patient with polycystic disease treated by Giovannetti diet sustained a rise in hæmoglobin from 8·4 to 10·8 g./100 ml. while taking oxymetholone for 10 months. On present evidence oxymetholone in safe dosage has little or no role in treating the anæmia or renal failure, but trials of other anabolic steroids with less masculinising effect than testosterone should continue.