A controlled study of stanozolol in primary Raynaud's phenomenon and systemic sclerosis.

Abstract

A double blind, crossover study of fibrinolytic enhancement treatment using stanozolol has been performed in primary Raynaud's phenomenon and in systemic sclerosis. The outcome criteria included subjective evaluation, clinical examination, physiological measurements of peripheral blood flow, and fibrinolytic measurements. Nineteen patients entered and 11 completed the study of primary Raynaud's phenomenon. There was nonsignificant evidence of improvement in peripheral blood flow. Twenty four patients entered and 17 completed the study ofsystemic sclerosis. There was marked objective but not subjective evidence of improvement in the peripheral microcirculation during the stanozolol treatment period. There was also a nonsignificant improvement in dermal sclerosis. There were improvements in fibrinolytic activity during the stanozolol treatment period. There was no alteration in fibrinolytic reserve as measured by 1-desamino-8-D-arginine vasopressin stimulation, however. Although adverse events were common in both treatment periods, withdrawals predominantly occurred during the period of treatment with stanozolol and were principally due to anabolic problems. There does not seem to be any indication for the use of stanozolol in primary Raynaud's phenomenon. Fibrinolytic enhancement with stanozolol does appear useful in treating the microvascular features of systemic sclerosis.

Drug Treatment of Raynaud’s Phenomenon

“…Stanazol an anabolic steroid is ineffective in RP [ 98 ]. High doses of thyroid hormone (T3) can possibly help RP but can cause side effects such as palpitations and in the long term can possibly be associated with other hyperthyroid side effects such as low bone mass.…”

Effectiveness of Interventions of Specific Complaints of the Arm, Neck, or Shoulder (CANS)

“…The remaining 5 RCTs on oral treatment in patients with primary RP studied the following: Hexopal, 22 a medicine thought to work by widening the blood vessels that may improve the circulation to the extremities; Buflomedil, 23 a vasoactive agent that is claimed to have beneficial effects on the microcirculation 24 ; and Stanozolol, 25 an anabolic steroid, fish-oil dietary supplementation 26 that might have a positive effect on vasodilatation and might decrease platelet aggregation 27 and, Ginkgo biloba. 28 A significant decrease in the number of attacks was reported with Hexopal.…”

Sex hormones and sex hormone-targeting therapies in systemic sclerosis: A systematic literature review

“…For the second research question À (2) À we found 9 articles assessing sex hormone levels in patients with SSc [9,25,29,30,33,41,49,51,54], 6 case reports [36,42,44,47,48,50] about the association of male hypogonadism and SSc, and 2 retrospective cohort studies evaluating the effect of menopause on SSc [34,35]. Finally, for the third research question À (3) À we included 7 studies on sex hormone-targeting therapies and their potential effect on SSc [26,28,38,40,43,45,46].…”

“…Six studies [9,29,30,34,41,54] were of high quality and 11 [25,27,31,33,35,39,40,49,51À53] were of moderate quality. Five randomized trials [26,28,32,45,46] were assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Two studies were considered at moderate risk of bias [28,32], and 3 were scored as high risk of bias [26,45,46].…”