Astonishing Ailments Prednisone Packs a Punch Against

5. Prevent Organ Rejection

Organ rejection is a process that occurs in a patient where their immune system recognizes a donor organ as being foreign and attempts to eliminate its tissues. Some degree of organ rejection occurs in every patient who receives a donor organ transplant. The clinical significance of that degree of rejection is dependent upon individual circumstances. Acute rejection is sudden and often forced back into a state of remission through the use of medications to suppress the immune system. Chronic rejection can develop as a result of several episodes of acute rejection. Organ rejection produces symptoms such as swelling, weight gain, chills, nausea, diarrhea, headache, body aches, tiredness, fever, pain over the transplant site, and less urine expulsion. Patients who have had an organ transplant need to take several medications every day to maintain proper clinical immunosuppression. Clinical immunosuppression includes the use of prednisone to help stop the immune system components from attacking the donor organ.

6. Diamond-Blackfan Anemia

Diamond-Blackfan anemia is a rare form of anemia. For patients with this condition, the bone marrow does not produce a sufficient quantity of red blood cells. Researchers estimate there are six to seven hundred patients with this condition throughout the world, and genetic mutations are involved in roughly twenty-five percent of all cases. At birth, newborns with Diamond-Blackfan anemia may have hand abnormalities, heart defects, heartbeat irregularities, and pallor. The thumbs may be absent or malformed, and the eyelids may droop. Patients could also have episodes of fainting, and irritability may be present. To diagnose this condition, doctors will perform blood tests, and genetic testing and a bone marrow biopsy may be necessary. Prednisone is normally the first line of treatment for Diamond-Blackfan anemia. The medication stimulates the production of red blood cells, and seventy percent of patients with this condition will be responsive to this treatment. Blood transfusions can be used as well, and patients may be advised to have a stem cell transplant.