Steroid economising effects of a calf thymus extract in three patients with juvenile chronic arthritis.

Recent therapeutic trials in rheumatology using different immunomodulating agents have given encouraging results. In this study an aqueous calf thymus extract (CTE) was administered to three patients, two with systemic juvenile chronic arthritis (JCA), Still's disease, who could not be weaned from steroids during 2 years of conventional therapy, and one girl with a chronic juvenile monarthritis who had responded unsatisfactorily to nonsteroidal antirheumatics for 19 months. A striking clinical improvement was observed in all three patients. Prednisone (PRED) was discontinued in one case with systemic (JCA) and 0.25 mg/kg body weight/day is presently being given to the other patient. The girl is doing well on 4 mg chloroquin kg body weight/day; indomethacin (IND) was discontinued. Laboratory data including cellular immunoreactivity normalized in all three patients.