Objective:The FDA has not approved the use of testosterone in women. However, parenteral testosterone is being used off-label in free standing clinics throughout America. The recent multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis (MESA) population study showed that postmenopausal women with a higher testosterone/estradiol ratio had a higher incident of cardiovascular disease. This is a case of a postmenopausal woman who dissected her thoracic aorta after 8 months of parenteral testosterone.Methods: The clinical examination, radiographic, and laboratory findings of a patient are presented along with a review of the literature.Results: A heathy postmenopausal women, whose only risk factor was parenteral testosterone, developed a dissection of her entire thoracic aorta.Conclusion: The MESA study and other conflicting publications on cardiovascular events in transgender patients receiving exogenous androgens indicates the need for further investigation to determine the safety of testosterone therapy for women and its possible role in contributing to aortic disease. (AACE Clinical Case Rep. 2019;5:e287-e289) Abbreviations: ED = emergency department; MESA = multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.