TREATMENT OF LUPUS ERYTHEMATOSUS DISSEMINATUS BY INTERNAL ADMINISTRATION OF IODINE

Abstract

Some time ago my attention was directed, purely by accident, to the possible value of iodine given internally in the treatment of disseminated lupus erythematosus. I was called in consultation to see a patient suffering with this disease, the diagnosis having been made by Libman and Sacks and confirmed by two dermatologists. I suggested, among other things, that a thorough laboratory investigation be made for possible foci of infection. About two weeks later I was amazed to see this patient enter my office, seemingly perfectly well and without a vestige of his former generalized eruption. He had come in to ask my advice about his going to Atlantic City for a rest. The patient stated that since I had seen him he had been given some sort of dye in preparation for roentgenograms of the gallbladder and a gastrointestinal series. The dye had made him deathly ill, producing severe