ORAL THERAPY IN ADRENAL INSUFFICIENCY

Abstract

The disadvantages occasioned by the frequent subcutaneous injections of adrenal cortical extract in patients with advanced Addison's disease are well known. It has been shown that the effect of a single subcutaneous injection of extract is short-lived (1) and that a constant supply of hormone can be insured only by repeated injections. The desirability of administering the extract in some form which obviates the necessity of frequent injections and at the same time provides for a constant rate of absorption is readily understood. The earliest successful attempt to use a glycerol extract of fresh adrenal tissue in the treatment of Addison's disease appears to have been made by Osier (2) in the Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1895. Because recent medical literature contains no reference to this classical study, excerpts of this report as it appeared in the International Medical Magazine for February, 1896, follow.