Haddon M. Carryer

The effect of cortisone on bronchial asthma and hay fever occurring in subjects sensitive to ragweed pollen

Abstract 1.1. Three patients received injections of cortisone during the season when ragweed pollen, to which they were allergic, was in the air. 2.2. Each patient experienced prompt relief from the symptoms of bronchial asthma and hay fever occurring as the result of that pollen sensitivity. 3.3. The symptoms of bronchial asthma were relieved more quickly than were symptoms of hay fever. 4.4. Within 3 days following the onset of administration of cortisone, only occasional allergic symptoms, which were of a mild and transitory nature, were observed. 5.5. The relief of symptoms was apparently confined to the period during and immediately following the time when cortisone was being administered.

Evaluation of IgE tests in an allergy practice

Abstract We measured serum IgE in 264 patients seen in the course of an allergy practice during the summer of 1970. IgE values were elevated in 21 per cent of patients who had idiopathic asthma and 10 per cent of patients who had idiopathic rhinitis. The elevated IgE was of no immediate clinical help in this idiopathic group because we were unable to detect hidden allergenic factors on further review of the history and skin tests. The finding of such an elevation, however, will prompt us to a continuing search for an allergic etiology or other condition associated with elevation of IgE. In patients who had hypersensitivity to stinging insects, IgE was elevated in 9 of 29 (31 per cent), and in patients with asthma and aspirin intolerance it was elevated in one of 5. Results in small numbers of patients with several other conditions including cold urticaria, chronic urticaria, and drug allergy are also presented.

The effect of cortisone upon the release of histamine during in vitro hemolytic reactions in rabbit blood

Abstract 1.1. The in vitro addition of cortisone to the blood of rabbits previously sensitized to sheep erythrocytes had no effect upon the release of histamine into the plasma which uniformly accompanied the hemolytic reaction produced by mixing the blood with the sheep cells. 2.2. Incubation of the blood with the cortisone for 1 hour prior to addition of the sheep cells did not alter the result.

Fatal necrotizing angiitis associated with hypersensitivity to pencillin O and iodides

Abstract A case of fatal necrotizing angiitis is thought to have resulted from the administration of penicillin O to a patient known to be sensitive to penicillin G. The patient also had an iodide allergy and hence it cannot be stated definitely that this did not have a place in the production of the necrotizing angiitis. Several of us who saw the patient thought that the penicillin O was probably more important than the iodides in the final outcome of the case. Postmortem findings were typical of allergic angiitis described by Zeek, while some features were characteristic of the allergic granulomatous type described by Churg and Strauss. Skin reactions to penicillin G and O and procaine were all negative. The patient died despite cortisone therapy; the dosage level may have been inadequate. This case, as well as others which have been described in the literature, especially those of Gruber and Rich, shows that drug allergy is important in the pathogenesis of some of the so-called cases of periarteritis nodosa.

The effect of tripelennamine hydrochloride (pyribenzamine) on the release of histamine during in vitro hemolytic reaction in rabbit blood

Abstract 1.1. In confirmation of earlier work, an increase in the content of histamine in plasma was found to accompany the in vitro hemolytic reaction which occurred in blood of rabbits sensitized to sheep erythrocytes when these were added to the blood. 2.2. The presence of pyribenzamine did not affect the in vitro liberation of histamine during the hemolytic reaction.

Treatment of Acute Asthma in the Elderly

The treatment of asthma in the elderly is similar in many ways to that in younger patients, but it also differs in many respects. The elderly patient is more likely to have associated diseases that also require treatment. He is less adaptive to modifications in his program of living. Thus the regular therapeutic management of asthma must be modified to take into account the patients advanced age and his special needs. The purpose of this paper is to present such a therapeutic program.