[Treatment of Cushing's syndrome with large doses of reserpine]

The effectiveness of high doses of reserpine was studied in two groups of patients, suffering from Icenko-Cushing's disease. The patients of the first group received gamma-beam therapy combined with high doses of reserpine. The patients of the second group were treated with gamma-beam radiation associated with unilateral adrenalectomy plus high doses of reserpine. The controls were treated as described above, but without reserpine use. The results obtained have shown that reserpine monotherapy is not recommended in Icenko-Cushing's disease. High doses of reserpine combined with gamma-beam radiation alone or coupled with unilateral adrenalectomy shortened the period of the appearance of remission. The arterial blood pressure was significantly lower in patients treated with high doses of reserpine.