ADRENAL HORMONE THERAPY IN VIRAL HEPATITIS. II. THE EFFECT OF CORTISONE IN THE ACUTE DISEASE

Abstract

The admn. of cortisone to 10 patients with early acute viral hepatitis was associated with a prompt fall in serum bilirubin and a primary recovery period about 2 weeks shorter than 17 similar patients receiving control injns., or 100 similar patients admitted prior to this study. Histopathologic studies revealed a more rapid progress toward healing in cortisone-treated than in control patients. This was accompanied by a moderately severe degree of fatty metamorphosis. Two relapses occurred in the 10 patients treated with cortisone, none in the combined group of 117 control patients. The theory is presented that while cortisone therapy speeded up the return of certain clinical, laboratory, and pathologic features toward normal, it left the patient more vulnerable to relapse than patients not so treated because of disturbances in virus-host relationships important in immunity.