Foreign protein shock therapy in ophthalmology†

Abstract

AbstractIn the days before effective anti-inflammatory drugs were available, the treatment of intraocular inflammation was very difficult. A popular treatment before 1950 was nonspecific protein shock therapy. Boiled milk and typhoid vaccine were the principal proteins used. In some way a fever was produced, followed by changes in the blood picture referred to as a febrile hemogram. Because the rise in temperature was the most obvious and easily recorded manifestation, it was the best criterion of the severity of the reaction. Pitfalls, mechanism of action, techniques of administration, and contraindications of this method will be discussed.