Finastride causing gyno?! Need help
Was just doing some research and came across this. I found a BUNCH of other studies which backed up the connection between finastride and gyno. Before reading this stuff I never knew there was any connection. Anyone have opinions or more info on this? I thought running finastride with test was a must to protect prostate and hair.....but now I'm weary of finastride because of reading these studies. Any more info would be much appreciated!
: Arch Pathol Lab Med 2000 Apr;124(4):625-7 Related Articles, Books, LinkOut
Cytologic atypia in a 53-year-old man with finasteride-induced gynecomastia.
Zimmerman RL, Fogt F, Cronin D, Lynch R.
Departments of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, Presbyterian Medical Center, University of Pennsylvania Health System, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
Finasteride has been associated with the development of gynecomastia. Although cytoplasmic vacuolization has been noted in prostatic epithelium in men taking this drug, we found no documentation of the cytologic changes in finasteride-associated gynecomastia. We present the case of a 53-year-old man who developed unilateral gynecomastia following finasteride therapy for alopecia. A fine-needle aspiration biopsy
of the mass was diagnosed as adenocarcinoma on the basis of nuclear atypia and particularly because of cytoplasmic vacuolization. Subsequent excisional biopsy revealed benign gynecomastia with no evidence of malignant change. The ductal epithelium did exhibit cytoplasmic vacuolization similar to that described in the prostate following finasteride therapy. We believe this is the first reported case documenting the cytologic changes seen in gynecomastia secondary to finasteride therapy. Cytoplasmic vacuolization in this setting should not be considered evidence of malignancy in men with gynecomastia. As with gynecomastia in general, extreme caution should be used before rendering a cytologic diagnosis of malignancy.
PMID: 10747325 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
McBain, you never cease to amaze me.
Your medical search skills are becoming quite good.
There have, indeed, been several studies linking finasteride to gyno. According to one excellent piece from the Southern Medical Journal that you can find here, it is significant enough that (they report) the manufacturer has added gyno as a possible side effect. (The study also indicated that finasteride-induced gyno is reversable.
Nonetheless, it's interesting that the prescribing information currently on line for finasteride (which can be found at proscar.com and propecia.com*) do not list it as a side effect.
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* For newbies, Proscar and Propecia are both finasteride. The Proscar version is used to treat benign prostate hyperplasia, or enlarged prostate, and Propecia is a lower-dose version that is used to treat male pattern baldness. Both are manufactured by Merck, which sponsors both web sites.