[Analysis of the cause of death in patients with steroid-dependent bronchial asthma].

Description is given of 11 patients with a severe form of protracted corticosteroid-dependent asthma. They died in status asthmaticus. Most of these patients had protracted status asthmaticus and cardiopulmonary failure. Pneumonia with toxic liver and kidney affection developed in some of them in parallel with glucocorticoid therapy. Long-term glucocorticoid treatment may give rise to vasculitis and thromboembolism of the pulmonary trunk. The principal disease can be aggravated by infection, administration of histoglobin, decrease in the dose of glucocorticosteroids or their discontinuation.