Comparative effects of 3-hydroxy-2-phenylcinchoninic acid (HPC) and aspirin on the acute course of rheumatic fever and the occurrence of rheumatic valvular disease

Abstract

The comparative effects of treatment with 3-hydroxy-2-phenylcinchoninic acid (HPC) and aspirin were observed in a study of sixty-eight patients with acute rheumatic fever. One-half, or thirty-four, of the patients received HPC; the remaining one-half were treated with aspirin. Aspirin exerted a more favorable effect upon arthritis, fever, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate than did HPC. There was no difference between the two treated groups in the course of acute carditis or in the incidence of significant murmurs fourteen to seventeen months after treatment was started. The duration of the acute illness appeared to be equal in the two groups. In the dosages employed in this study, aspirin appears to be preferable to HPC in the treatment of acute rheumatic fever.