SERIOUS UNTOWARD REACTIONS TO THERAPY WITH CORTISONE AND ADRENOCORTICOTROPIN IN PEDIATRIC PRACTICE (PART I)

Abstract

THE INTRODUCTION of cortisone and adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) into clinical medicine by Hench et al. has profoundly influenced both medical practice and medical science. Voluminous literature which has collected during the 5 years since their introduction establishes securely the effectiveness of these hormonal agents in diseases previously refractory to medical management. In the laboratory these drugs have also opened whole fields to investigation with a new experimental approach. Data already available suggest that ultimate discovery of the basis of the action of cortisone and ACTH will carry broad inmplications concerning physiologic function and mechanisms of disease. A natural consequence of the introduction of such potent and versatile weapons into clinical medicine is that they should be widely used. In almost every human disease, ranging from the common cold to disseminated malignancy, the steroid hormones and ACTH have been tried. For example, it can be factually stated that few truly ill patients reach the diagnostic medical center without having had at least small amounts of cortisone or ACTH, and it is the extremely unusual patient who reaches the necropsy table without the "benefit" of ACTH, cortisone or one of its analogues. As these drugs have been studied, it has become ever more apparent that they are extraordinarily potent pharmacologic agents which effect or control mammalian physiology in multitudinous areas, perhaps in several different ways. More gradually it has been realized that their effects are not all beneficial. Because of enthusiasm engendered by the availability of potent new pharmacologic agents, reporting from most clinics to date has emphasized the dramatic beneficial effects and tended to minimize the untoward side effects, toxic reactions and potential hazards of hormone therapy. It is the purpose of this report to review some of the hazards of treatment with cortisone and ACTH in pediatric practice.