1948: Cortisone Began being Used to Treat Arthritis

[Guest guest]

Kendall and Hench Administer Cortisone for Arthritis.

http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH?d=dmtContent & c=245358 & p=~br,IHW|~st,333|~r,\

WSIHW000|~b,*|

The end of World War II marked many changes—not just politically but

medically. The late 1940s saw an explosion in medical research that

resulted in a better understanding of the body and how to treat it. Now,

drugs were being developed that finally allowed doctors to treat

illnesses and relieve the suffering that went with these conditions.

A prime example was rheumatoid arthritis. This debilitating form of

arthritis causes the body’s immune system to damage joints—usually the

hands, feet and arms—and their surrounding tissue. Rheumatoid arthritis

was diagnosed in the 19th century, but no treatment was developed to

alleviate the pain caused by joint inflammation.

It’s no wonder, then, that when Hench and Kendall

discovered around 1930 that some of the body’s hormones could be used to

alleviate the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, the treatments that were

later developed were quickly dubbed “miracle drugs.” In 1948, after more

than a decade of collaboration, Kendall and Hench administered

cortisone, the first synthesized hormone they used to treat arthritis.

Hench and Kendall met at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, back

in 1925. It was Hench, who was head of rheumatic diseases at the clinic,

who first noticed that symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis were lessened

when the body’s chemical makeup changed during pregnancy and jaundice.

He began consulting with Kendall, who was head of biochemistry at Mayo

Clinic. They reasoned that each condition resulted in an increase in

steroids, which in turn were alleviating the pain caused by arthritis.

Hench and Kendall believed that the steroid hormones located

specifically in the cortex, or outer part, of the adrenal glands would

also provide relief.

During the 1930s, Hench tested several fluids he took from the cortex,

but none of the extracts were very successful. Finally, in 1936, Kendall

isolated a hormone in the cortex that he called Compound E, a name he

later was changed to cortisone. It took many years for the researchers

to develop enough cortisone for clinical trials. Kendall developed a

synthesized version of cortisone, and on September 21, 1948, Hench

administered the treatment to 14 patients with severe cases of

arthritis. All reported dramatic improvements in their condition.

Hench and Kendall went on to discover a number of other hormones,

including hydrocortisone and adrenocorticotropic hormone, or ACTH. For

their achievements, the two Mayo researchers were awarded the Nobel

Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1950. Since Hench and Kendall’s

development of cortisone, a number of anti-inflammatory drugs have been

introduced that offer even greater relief. However, researchers continue

to search for a cure for arthritis.