Endocrine Abstracts

Corticotropinomas represent only a small fraction of all the cases of pituitary adenomas, yet they have the potential for great morbidity and mortality. Presenting clinically as Cushing’s disease (CD), corticotropinomas are characterized at the molecular level by resistance to glucocorticoid negative feedback, dysregulation of proteins controlling cell cycle progression, and overexpression of pathways that sustain overactive ACTH production and secretion. Until recently, ...

Background: Alongside various physical symptoms, patients with high levels of cortisol, such as typically found in Cushing’s disease, often display a wide variety of neuropsychiatric symptoms such as depression, psychosis, mania and cognitive impairments. This indicates involvement of the central nervous system in hypercortisolism.Methods: Various neuroimaging approaches can be used to examine the effects of hypercortisolism on the brain. The freque...

Background: Pseudo-Cushing’s syndrome (PCS) constitutes a group of physiological or non-physiological medical conditions that mimic Cushing’s syndrome (CS) clinical features along with a mild biochemical hypercortisolaemia which remains under a physiological feedback hormonal control. Physiological conditions such as pregnancy, surgical or emotional stress, severe illness, intense chronic exercise, and non-physiological as chronic alcoholism, obesity, metabolic syndr...