Acute and Subacute Glomerulonephritis Modified by Adrenocorticotropin. ∗

Abstract

Summary, results and conclusions

Two patients with subacute glomerulonephritis and one associated with rheumatic heart disease, with acute glomerulonephritis, were treated with adrenocorticotropin. In the first 2 cases hematuria was abolished or reduced to an occasional erythrocyte in the passed specimen. Azotemia and hypertension were reduced. In the second patient the improvement in blood pressure and nitrogen retention was maintained for the 7 weeks elapsing since the experimental period; however, hematuria recurred shortly after the discontinuation of treatment. In the first, follow-up studies performed 8 months after treatment showed a normal blood pressure, absence of blood in the urine but a slight increase in the blood urea and non-protein nitrogen.

Because of the relatively short duration of the disease in the third patient, less significance is attributed to the abatement after administration of ACTH.

It is concluded that hematuria, azotemia and hypertension associated with the active phases of glomerulonephritis can be favorably modified by activation of the adrenal cortex with ACTH.