CORTISONE-TREATED SCLERODERMA

Abstract

The patient herein described, with diffuse scleroderma treated with cortisone, obtained prompt relief and improvement initially; subsequently a pronounced hypertension and hypertensive encephalopathy developed, followed by rapid death in uremia. Although it is admittedly difficult to implicate cortisone as the cause of her death, the rapidity with which the clinical picture changed and the findings at autopsy make it imperative for one to weigh the use of this drug and probably allied compounds in the treatment of certain collagen diseases. At the time of this writing, only the reports of Bayles and his associates¹ and Hines and his co-workers² have appeared describing four and two cases, respectively, of scleroderma improved by cortisone and adrenocorticotropic hormone therapy. However, they reported return of symptoms two to three weeks after discontinuance of therapy. They gave no further reports of follow-up. REPORT OF CASE A 41 year old white housewife had noted