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

R. D. Reeves, M. D. Morris and G. L. Barbour

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.