Abstract
The author conducted Thorn's Tests on 20 cases of pulmonary tuberculosis which had the clinical symptoms of adrenal insufficiency. The tests were epinephrin-test and ACTH-test. ACTH Test was conducted both intramuscularly and intravenously and the intravenous one was made for 8 hours.
Results; Significant decrease of eosinophile leucocytes was seen in all of the 20 cases in the intravenous performance of ACTH Tests. However, negative results were obtained in 50% of the cases by the intramuscular ACTH tests and in 65% of the ases by the epinephrintests. The author thinks that the method of intravenous ACTH test is superior to the other two methods in the diagnosis of adrenal insufficiency, although the former has remarkable side-reactions (6 to 20 in our study). The author does not neglect the value of the epinephrin-test, however, in case of pulmonary tuberculosis, (with the exception of adrenal tuberculosis), it may be supposed that the pituitary insufficiency is primal to the pituitary adrenal insufficiency.
