CORTISONE THERAPY IN Rh INCOMPATIBILITIES

Abstract

In a preliminary article, the subject of cortisone therapy in Rh incompatibilities was first given recognition. 1 At that time, 12 cases had been studied in which it was evident that there might be some indication for the use of cortisone therapy in Rh incompatibilities. This concept was arrived at from observations in a large number of Rh incompatibilities. It was frequently noted that women with high Rh antibody titers delivered infants in relatively good condition, whereas some women with relatively low Rh antibody titers delivered infants that had severe erythroblastosis or even stillborn infants that died of the disease. 2 The great variation in the disease, with patients having similar titers, led to the belief that there must be some other influencing feature beside the antibody titer. Further observations revealed that severe anemia developed in many erythroblastotic babies in the neonatal period, while in others very little anemia developed