Search

ABSTRACT: Two hundred and twelve patients with acute myocardial infarction were treated for 14 days with daily doses of potassium (3 gm orally), glucose (280 gm orally) and regular insulin (16 units subcutaneously), all given in 4 fractional doses. The incidences of arrhythmias, heart failure and systolic blood pressure below 70 mm Hg, as well as the mortality rate, were compared with those for another group of 600 myocardial infarction patients who were not given this treatment. Though there was some reduction in the incidence of cardiac arrhythmias, it was not statistically significant. However, there was a strikingly significant decrease in the incidences of heart failure and blood pressure below 70 mm, as well as in the early mortality rate. Our findings should encourage the continued use of potassium, glucose and insulin therapy in acute myocardial infarction.

The case is presented of a man who, at the age of 63, began to complain of joint pain. The clinical picture of polymyositis gradually developed, and three years after the onset of the joint pain a carcinoma of the prostate was diagnosed. The rheumatic complaints improved during treatment with indomethacin and estrogen. Early in the disease a repeatedly abnormal x‐ray finding in the duodenum raised the possibility of a carcinoma of the pancreas. At the height of this symptomatology, the patient twice exhibited neurological signs, diagnosed as a small stroke; an abnormal EEG was found immediately following the second attack and one year later.