Louis E. Prickman

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.

So-called eosinophilic granuloma of the ribs and jaws associated with visceral (pulmonary) involvement characteristic of xanthomatosis

Abstract This report is based on a case of so-called eosinophilic granuloma of bone and visceral involvement characteristic of xanthomatosis. The skeletal manifestations consisted of involvement of two ribs, the maxilla, and the mandible. The dental manifestations were characterized by rapid destruction of the alveolar process without gross evidence of an inflammatory reaction. The lesions were well localized. The portion of the alveolar process supporting the teeth can be destroyed in three months by this disease. The pulmonary lesions consisted of extensive infiltration of both upper lobes and resembled the pulmonary lesions seen in cases of xanthomatosis. The findings in this case constitute additional evidence that eosinophilic granuloma of bone may be associated with, or may be a type of, xanthomatosis. Microscopic diagnosis is difficult in cases in which only a few eosinophiles are present. In the case which we have reported, a definite microscopic diagnosis was not established until biopsy had been performed four times in a period of twenty-one months. The additional finding of so-called foam cells containing lipoid material adds further support to the opinion that eosinophilic granuloma of bone is not a separate entity but a type of xanthomatosis.

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.