A WIDE variety of supposedly unrelated diseases have been treated with cortisone, among them the so-called collagen group of diseases. It was natural, then, that cortisone should be administered to patients who have scleroderma. Four such patients, all women, have been treated at the Mayo Clinic. The results achieved form the basis of this report.
REPORT OF CASES
Case 1.—
A 25-year-old white woman first came to the clinic in October, 1949. She said that beginning in the summer of 1946 she had noticed a swelling and firmness of the fingers unassociated with any other symptoms. In the fall of that year painful, scaly, crusted lesions developed on the finger tips. At the same time, she also noticed the color changes of Raynaud's phenomenon upon exposure to cold. Symptoms gradually increased until April, 1948, when she became pregnant. During her pregnancy the symptoms spontaneously abated an estimated 75%; however, in April,