BODY CELL MASS DURING LONG-TERM CORTISONE TREATMENT IN ASTHMATIC SUBJECTS

ABSTRACT The body cell mass (BCM) was estimated from determinations of the total exchangeable potassium (Ke) in 66 patients with severe bronchial asthma requiring long-term treatment with daily doses of glucocorticoids equivalent to 25–75 mg of cortisone. Thirty subjects had been treated with cortisone for more than six years (2–12 years) prior to the present study. The remaining thirty-six patients were studied at the beginning of the cortisone treatment period. Twenty-two patients from both groups were followed during more than two years of daily cortisone therapy by repeated, paired Ke-determinations. Ke was determined by the isotope dilution technique. In all, 297 such determinations were performed by oral administration of 42K, allowing the isotope to equilibrate for 45 hours. The initial body content of Ke in male and female subjects with or without several years of previous cortisone therapy did not differ from normal subjects, when related to body weight and age. A statistical analysis revealed a significant increase in the total exchangeable potassium of both male and female subjects during treatment with cortisone. None of the patients showed significantly decreasing Ke-values during the longitudinal study. Body weight showed a covariation with Ke but did not, on an average, increase significantly with time. Cortisone induced osteoporosis was found in twelve subjects. Taken as a group, these subjects showed normal values of Ke, when related to body weight and age. Apparently, bone atrophy can develop during cortisone treatment without concomitant atrophy of the BCM.