Hyperlipidemia due to oxymetholone therapy. Occurrence in a long-term hemodialysis patient.

JAMA. 1976 Aug 2;236(5):469-72.

Hyperlipidemia due to oxymetholone therapy. Occurrence in a long-term
hemodialysis patient.

Reeves RD, Morris MD, Barbour GL.

Marked hypertriglyceridemia and hypercholesterolemia accompanied by angina and a
left cerebral thrombosis occurred in a long-term hemodialysis patient following 5
1/2 weeks of oral treatment with oxymetholone, 100 mg/day, a synthetic androgen.
After androgen therapy was discontinued, over a three-month period, plasma lipid
values progressively decreased below pretreatment values, and clinical symptoms
disappeared. During rechallenge with oxymetholone, serum lipid values increased
substantially, and the lipoprotein pattern changed from a type IV to a type V.
Detailed lipid studies showed subnormal postheparin lipolytic activity and a
fast-migrating pre-beta-lipoprotein in a very-low-density lipoproteins (VLDL)
fraction. Because of the data linking lipid abnormalities to atherosclerosis and
the acceleration of atherosclerosis in long-term hemodialysis patients, great
caution should be exercised in administering androgenic steroids to these
patients.