Use of Pituitary Adrenocorticotropic Hormone (Acth) and Cortisone in Lymphomas and Leukemias

The availability of a purified pituitary adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)1and of the synthetically prepared adrenal cortical steroid, cortisone2(17-hydroxy-11-dehydrocorticosterone) provided means of inducing increased adrenal cortical function in man, in the first instance by stimulating the adrenal cortex to increased activity and in the second by administering a physiologically active, adrenal cortical steroid. Pituitary adrenocorticotropic hormone or cortisone acetate has been administered to 70 patients with various types of neoplastic disease during the past two years at Memorial Hospital. Among this group of patients all the clinical manifestations and metabolic alterations associated with Cushing's syndrome have been observed to develop, which is in agreement with the observations of Sprague and his colleagues.3 The clinical and metabolic manifestations of spontaneously occurring Cushing's syndrome have been reviewed by Albright4and Kepler and Locke.5The production of Cushing's syndrome in man by pituitary adrenocorticotropic hormone or cortisone acetate