Although the symptoms of acute rheumatic fever appear to be favorably altered by a number of drugs,* the essential problems of therapy are to prevent death from acute carditis and to decrease the incidence of subsequent valvular heart disease.4 The present report compares the effect of acetylsalicylic acid (Aspirin), cortisone, and corticotropin (ACTH) on valvular heart disease as evidenced by the presence of murmurs 14 months after the onset of therapy.† A previous paper 5 concerning the same group of patients dealt with a comparison of the effects of these drugs on the acute course of rheumatic fever.
METHODS
Details of the methods employed and the population involved have been described elsewhere.5 All male airmen admitted to Warren Air Force Base Hospital who met the standard diagnostic criteria and who exhibited signs of rheumatic activity on the day treatment began were accepted for study. Each patient was assigned