Abstract
1. Thirty five patients with idiopathic acquired type of aplastic anemia were treated for more than one month with high doses (1.5∼3.0mg/kg/day) of oxymetholone or methenolone during the period from January 1972 to August 1977.
2. Twenty four patients (68.5%) showed improvements, and the remission (partial or complete) was obtained in 18 patients (51.4%). Twenty patients are still alive, 10 patients died and 5 patients were lost to follow. In nine patients with remission medication was discontinued and hematological changes were followed for more than 6 months. Six cases remained in remission and two patients relapsed after stopping therapy.
3. Three patients in remission suddenly died from suspected cardiac failure. It was not clear whether large doses of anabolic steroids had some causative relation to the development of cardiac failure. Other side effects, such as hepatic dysfunction, diabetes, water retention and virilism, were not severe enough to cause the interruption of the treatment. Usually, dose modification and substitution of methenolone for oxymetholone were useful for the management of side effects.
4) These results suggest that oxymetholone or methenolone by mouth is a useful treatment of aplastic anemia. Because the response to androgen therapy is usually slow, the trial therapy should be continued at least for six months.
