A Clinical Appraisal of the Value of Para-Aminosalicylic Acid With and Without Streptomycin in the Treatment of Tuberculosis

¹ Chief, Division One, Medical Service of the Bz. S. Pollak Hospital for Chest Diseases, Medical Center, Jersey City, N. J.

1) Experience with para-aminosalicylic acid (PAS) is evaluated in 30 patients five of whom received only this drug, 12 concurrently with streptomycin and 13 after streptomycin had been discontinued.

2) The daily dose was 9 gms. in four divided doses. The total dose averaged 683.4 gms.; the smallest being 297 gms. and the largest 1288 gms.

3) PAS is not as effective as streptomycin. Best results are obtained when it is used in conjunction with the latter. Forty per cent of the patients improved who received only PAS, 72.7 per cent when it was utilized in conjunction with streptomycin and 61.6 per cent when it followed the use of streptomycin.

4) Criteria for improvement included changes in clinical picture, serial roentgenograms of the chest, blood counts and sedimentation rates.

5) Toxic effects were judged by frequent liver function tests and hemograms. Transient nausea and one case of transient leukopenia and granulocytopenia were the only toxic effects observed.