Effect of Adrenocorticotrophic Hormone on Rheumatic Fever

Abstract

ACTH therapy represses the manifestations of active rheumatic fever including those of carditis. There is as yet no conclusive evidence as to whether ACTH therapy affects the natural course of rheumatic fever. A relatively large percentage of patients in this study showed evidence of reactivation of disease on withdrawal of drug. As used in these studies ACTH therapy did not uniformly prevent death due to acute rheumatic pancarditis. There is no evidence to indicate whether treatment of active rheumatic fever with ACTH changes the incidence of late valvular deformities.