Abstract
Clinical and hematologic studies were performed on the cases with aplastic anemia showing a good response (an elevation of Hb level to above 12.0 g/dl in males, or 11.5 g/dl in females) to androgen treatment. Sixty-five cases out of 112 cases with idiopathic aplastic anemia admitted to Gunma University Hospital or Tokyo Metropolitan Geriatric Hospital during the last 24 years, were treated with various types of androgenic anabolic hormones for more than eight weeks, and a good response was observed in 25 cases.
The clinical and hematologic findings obtained in 25 cases showing a good response were as follows: 1. Good response rate was relatively high in patients less than 30 years of age, although no sex difference was observed in response rate and neither type of the androgen-preparations, dose level nor duration of the androgen treatment was significantly correlated to the response rate. 2. Duration of androgen therapy required for achievement of a good response ranged from 28 to 585 days (a median of 112 days). A longer time was required to attain a good response in patients with severe erythropoietic dysfunction. 3. It is suggested that Hb concentration over 6.0 g/dl, platelets count over 30,000/μl and PID under 140 min may be profitable in predicting a good response to androgen therapy. 4. After withdrawal of androgen, a half of the cases showing a good response returned to the pretreatment state, while the remaining cases were kept in the similar state. Two out of five cases relapsed after withdrawal of androgen responded well to treatment with androgen. Aplastic anemia in these cases appears to be androgendependent.
