Pharmacologic Aspects of Adrenocortical Steroids and ACTH in Man

Abstract

THE importance of the adrenocortical steroids as essential mediators of metabolic processes is well established. In the treatment of adrenocortical insufficiency these hormones are capable of restoring severely ill patients to a state of health that is remarkably near normal. In the wider field of inflammatory diseases their action is no less dramatic, although the indications for their use and their ultimate place in the therapeutic armamentarium are not yet clearly defined. Experience has emphasized the necessity for exercising unusual care in initiating or terminating a therapeutic trial with these agents. Regardless of the extent to which they may eventually . . .