STUDIES on cortisone and corticotropin (ACTH) treatment of rheumatic fever have been primarily limited to acute cases of relatively short duration. The beneficial effects first reported by Hench and his associates1 have been confirmed by subsequent investigators,2 although more recent reports3 have served to temper some of the previous enthusiasm. The number of patients with chronic active rheumatic fever so treated is relatively few, and, because of this, observations on, and end-results obtained in, a group of patients of this type treated with large and prolonged dosages of cortisone or corticotropin should be of interest.
MATERIAL
Between June, 1950, and August, 1951, eight children, ranging from 8 to 16 years of age, and suffering from prolonged chronic active rheumatic fever, were treated with cortisone or corticotropin and subsequently followed for 2 to 13 months after cessation of therapy. Six children had been observed by us on a Home Care Rheumatic