J. H. H. Thijssen

Recovery of Adrenocortical Function During Long-term Treatment with Corticosteroids

The recovery of adrenocortical function during long-term corticosteroid treatment in a group of patients with asthmatic bronchitis was compared with that in a group of patients with sarcoidosis. At corresponding dosages of prednisone basal adrenocortical function as well as adrenocortical response to tetracosactrin stimulation was higher in the asthma patients than in those with sarcoidosis. The rate of recovery of adrenocortical function seems mainly to be determined by the dosage of corticosteroids during the initial stages of treatment rather than by the nature of the disease.

A Comparative Study of Free Thyroxine Estimations

Two commercial methods (Immophase, Corning and FT4, Lepetit) for the measurement of free thyroxine (FT4) in serum have been experimentally evaluated. Ease of handling and rapidity were satisfactory. Precision profiles showed intra-assay coefficients of variation not exceeding 5% over the entire measurement range (0–70 pmol/l) for both methods. Interassay coefficients of variation were below 8%. Assay results of both methods correlated well with those obtained with a symmetric dialysis method, with correlation coefficients of 0·95 for the Immophase and 0·93 for the Lepetit method and slopes not significantly different from unity. Comparison with this reference method did not give any indication of serious methodological error in either of the kits in spite of theoretical doubts with regard to one of them.

Influence of exogenous human growth hormone on the metabolism of fasting obese patients.

Three obese female patients were investigated during three courses of starvation. In two of them these periods lasted 12 days; in one 6 days. During the second starvation period HGH was administered on alternate days in a dosage of 10 mg. Plasma values of FFA, hydroxybutyric acid, insulin, electrolytes, glucose, HCO3, and the pH were determined. In addition, a complete balance study of nitrogen, calcium, phosphate, Na, and K was done. In none of these cases HGH led to increased ketoacidosis. The rise of hydroxybutyric acid, as well as the decrease of HCO3 and of the pH, was in one of the patients even less during HGH administration than during control periods. This patient showed an elevation of plasma insulin during HGH administration. The possibility is considered that growth hormone, by virtue of its stimulating action on pancreatic insulin secretion, might counteract the acidosis of starvation. The balance studies showed that during HGH there was less excretion of Na and K, but no other effects were demonstrable.