Endocrine Abstracts

BackgroundCushing’s disease (CD) is caused by high levels of blood cortisol resulting from excess secretion of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) from an anterior pituitary corticotroph adenoma. Clinical manifestations include diabetes, hypertension, osteoporosis, and depression. If untreated, CD has an increased mortality of five-fold owing to cardiovascular comorbidities, stroke or raised vulnerability to infection. Currently, transsphenoidal surg...

Introduction: Cushing’s disease (CD) is a rare but devastating condition, caused by hypersecretion of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) from a corticotroph adenoma in the anterior pituitary. CD is associated with a five-fold excess mortality and clinical features including hypertension, diabetes mellitus, osteoporosis, and depression. First-line treatment is transsphenoidal surgery, but this is effective in only 65% of cases and the relapse rate is high. Other treatment ...