[Cortisone and heparin].

Though the abundant data published in the literature concerning the influence of cortisone on the thrombo-plastic powers of the blood is varied and sometimes even contradictory, we have concentrated our attention on the eventual influence of cortisone on heparin, the main factor of the circulating anti-coagulating substances. This decision was taken in consideration of the supposed existence of correlations between heparin, hyaluronic acid, and the enzymes of collagenasic, hyaluronidasic types, etc., of connective tissues. In fifteen patients of different age and sex, received at the Institute of Medical Semiology of the University of Rome, who were affected with evolutive rheumatoid arthritis, we performed the "heparin tolerance test" during a period of therapeutical rest of at least 5 days. This was the test proposed by De Takats (1943) and De Takats and Gilbert (1943) to check the heparin reactivity in individuals who had to be submitted to anti-coagulating therapy.