Hey guys i was doing some research on oxandrolone and came across a study that you guys may find interesting using patients with alcoholic hepatitis...
A study of oral nutritional support with oxandrolone in malnourished patients with alcoholic hepatitis: results of a Department of Veterans Affairs cooperative study.
Mendenhall CL, Moritz TE, Roselle GA, Morgan TR, Nemchausky BA, Tamburro CH, Schiff ER, McClain CJ, Marsano LS, Allen JI, et al.
Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio 45220.
A Veterans Affairs cooperative study involving 273 male patients was performed to evaluate efficacy of oxandrolone in combination with an enteral food supplement in severe alcoholic hepatitis. All patients had some degree of protein calorie malnutrition. On an intention-to-treat basis, only minimal changes in mortality were observed. However, in patients with moderate malnutrition mortality on active treatment at 1 mo was 9.4% compared with 20.9% in patients receiving placebo. This beneficial effect was maintained so that after 6 mo on active treatment 79.7% of patients were still alive, compared with 62.7% of placebo-treated patients (p = 0.037). Improvements in both the severity of the liver injury (p = 0.03) and malnutrition (p = 0.05) also occurred. No significant improvement was observed with severe malnutrition. To better determine the effect on therapeutic efficacy, we compared results with those from a nearly identical population (cooperative study 119) treated with oxandrolone but not given the food supplement. Patients were stratified according to their caloric intake (greater than 2,500 kcal/day was considered adequate to supply energy needs and promote anabolism). For patients with moderate malnutrition and adequate caloric intake, oxandrolone treatment reduced 6-mo mortality (4% active treatment vs. 28% placebo [p = 0.002]). For patients with moderate malnutrition and inadequate calorie intake, oxandrolone had no effect on mortality (30% active treatment vs. 33% placebo). In cases of severe malnutrition, oxandrolone had no effect on survival. However, adequate caloric intake was associated with 19% mortality, whereas patients with inadequate intake exhibited 51% mortality (p = 0.0001). These results indicate that nutritional status should be evaluated in patients with alcoholic hepatitis. When malnutrition is present, vigorous nutrition therapy should be provided, and in patients with moderate malnutrition oxandrolone should be added to the regimen.
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I had to look up the article to see the dose they gave them.......they gave 80mg/day for the first 30 days and then 40mg/day for 60 days and here are some of their results....
Although high-dose oxandrolone therapy was employed
in a patient population with preexisting severe
liver injury, no complications attributable to its use were
observed. Increased cholestasis, which has been associated
with the use of most 17-alkylated steroids (261,
was observed with nearly identical frequency (16.1% of
active-treatment patients and 16.2% of placebo patients)
and in each instance was attributed to the natural
progression of the disease.
Side effects of therapy were severe enough to necessitate
cessation of treatment in eight patients undergoing
active treatment. Five of these patients had severe
nausea, vomiting and bloating: one was allergic to the
chocolate flavoring in the food supplement, one experienced
an allergic skin rash attributed to oxandrolone
(but not confirmed by rechallenge) and one had severe
diabetes mellitus that complicated management.
Therapy was stopped in one placebo patient, also
because of management difficulties posed by severe
diabetes mellitus.
So no real effect on liver function in these patients with an already damaged liver....I have seen some research that shows that it does affect your lipid profile however...
-jsv
