EFFECT OF CORTISONE AND CORTICOTROPIN ON PROGNOSIS OF SYSTEMIC LUPUS ERYTHEMATOSUS

Abstract

SYSTEMIC lupus erythematosus was among the first diseases treated with cortisone and corticotropin. In many cases striking benefit has been reported.¹The merit of prolonged use of steroid preparations in a maintenance program is now under evaluation.²Despite these apparent advances in treatment, patients still die from the disease. The imminent question is: How many live and for how long because of steroid therapy? (The term steroids will be used here to indicate cortisone, hydrocortisone acetate, and corticotropin.) A study of the present day prognosis of systemic lupus erythematosus must include a comparison with the natural course of the disease before steroids were introduced. Superficially this would appear to be an easy task. Actually, owing to the broad nature of systemic lupus erythematosus, there are many difficulties. For example, no classification of lupus erythematosus has ever been universally accepted. The term disseminated means a scattering of skin lesions