OXANDROLONE
Synthetic oral anabolic steroid used clinically for burn recovery, wound healing, and growth promotion; mild androgenic profile with high oral bioavailability.
Multiple meta-analyses confirm oxandrolone reduces hospital length of stay, improves weight regain, increases lean body mass, and accelerates donor-site wound healing in severe burn patients. A 2025 meta-analysis of 14 RCTs (n=2822) showed significant reductions in surgical procedures and LOS/TBSA alongside enhanced anabolic recovery, but no mortality benefit and elevated transaminase levels in adults (19% vs 5% placebo, p=0.002). In Turner syndrome, oxandrolone added to growth hormone therapy yielded a modest 2.7 cm increase in final adult height (moderate-quality evidence). Evidence for pressure ulcer wound healing is weak, limited to a single low-certainty study. No trial has demonstrated a mortality benefit in any population.