Effect of nortestosterone decanoate on red cell 2,3 diphosphoglycerate and hematocrit in hemodialysis patients.

The effects of intramuscular 200-mg nortestosterone decanoate (ND) on red cell 2,3 diphosphoglycerate (DPG) concentration and packed cell volumes (PCV) were compared in 9 patients undergoing chronic hemodialysis for renal failure and in 18 control patients undergoing hemodialysis but not receiving ND. Subjects had received the drug 4.3 plus or minus 0.3 (SEM.) months at the time of DPG determinations. DPG was similar in treated patients and in the control subjects: 6.27 plus or minus 0.22 mM/L RBC and 6.16 plus or minus 0.23 mM/L RBC, respectively. The initial PCV was also similar: 21.72% plus or minus 1.36 and 20.13% plus or minus 0.91. Although the mean PCV during treatment was higher for 5 of 9 ND-treated patients (p smaller than 0.01), the final PCV prior to termination of therapy was greater than the initial pretreatment PCV in only 2 of these 5 patients (p greater than 0.05). We conclude that 200 mg ND weekly has no effect on the red cell DPG and a transient unsustained effect in raising the PCV in male chronic hemodialysis patients over a 5-month period of treatment.