EFFECT OF CORTICOTROPIN (ACTH) ON CHILDREN WITH THE NEPHROTIC SYNDROME

Abstract

In this communication we are presenting clinical observations of the effect of corticotropin (ACTH) and cortisone on children with the nephrotic syndrome. Our interest in examining the effect of these agents in this disorder was directed primarily toward an increased understanding of the syndrome itself and only secondarily toward evaluation of the hormones. To make the experience as broad as possible, the observations of the groups working at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the Children's Clinic of the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center have been pooled. Acknowledging the different points of view centering about the clinical concepts of lipoid nephrosis and the nephrotic syndrome,¹ we wish to clarify what we mean in this paper by the term nephrotic syndrome. We consider all children showing insidious onset of edema associated with proteinuria, low serum total protein and albumin, and high cholesterol level as having the nephrotic syndrome, whether or not