Anemia in chronic renal failure

Abstract

In 1976 we received an NIH (National Institutes of Health) grant to study the efficacy of androgens in correcting anemia in maintenance hemodialysis patients. Androgens were widely used for this purpose since 1970 (DeGowin et al. 1970; Richardson & Weinstein 1970; Shaldon et al. 1971a,b; DePalma et al. 1972; Baskin et al. 1973; Lindholm et al. 1973; Yen et al. 1973; Eschbach & Adamson 1973; Fried et al. 1973; Hendler et al. 1974; Williams et al. 1974; Koch et al. 1974; Erslev 1974; Goodman & Bessman 1975; Hendler 1975; Ball et al. 1975; Doane et al. 1975; Buchwald et al. 1977; Cattran et al. 1977; Mirahmadi et al. 1979), but there were no really well-controlled studies and no study comparing different preparations. If androgens worked, they were not uniformly effective and we wanted to try to establish what kinds of patient might be expected to respond and if patients did