CushieBlog

Summary: Neuropsychiatric symptoms including impairment of memory, attention, and executive function are important features of Cushing’s syndrome (CS). Notably, patients with CS in remission commonly demonstrate residual cognitive dysfunction, which has been suggested to be linked to incomplete recovery of neuronal function. Researchers sought to assess whether functional brain responses are altered during cognitive testing in patients with CS in remission. During episodic memory, women with CS in long-term remission have reduced functional brain responses in the prefrontal cortex and in the hippocampus.

Methods:

• Included in this study were 19 women previously treated for CS (14 Cushing’s disease and 5 cortisol producing adrenal adenomas) and 19 controls, matched for age, gender, and education.
• The median (interquartile range) remission time was 7 (6-10) years.
• Researchers studied brain activity with functional magnetic resonance imaging during an episodic-memory face-name task.
• The primary regions of interest were the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus.
• A voxel wise comparison of functional brain responses in patients and controls was performed, and an uncorrected P < 0.001 was considered significant.

Results:

• During memory encoding, patients displayed lower functional brain responses in the left and right prefrontal gyrus (Brodmann areas [BA] 44, 45, and 46) as well as the right inferior occipital gyrus (BA 18) compared to controls (P < 0.001 for all).
• Patients displayed lower functional brain responses in several brain areas including the prefrontal, parietal, occipital, and cerebellar cortices bilaterally during memory retrieval.
• The most predominant difference was found in the right prefrontal cortex (BA 46 and 48; P < 0.001).
• Reduced functional response in left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was seen for patients during both encoding and retrieval.
• Researchers compared the functional brain responses in four hippocampal clusters that were significantly activated during memory encoding among all participants (P < 0.05, FDR).
• Patients had a trend toward lower functional brain responses in the left anterior hippocampus compared to controls (P=0.05).

From http://www.mdlinx.com/endocrinology/conference-abstract.cfm/ZZ6AA1CEC190F5428EA690616DAA054518/56991/?utm_source=confcoveragenl&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_content=abstract-list&utm_campaign=abstract-ENDO2016&nonus=0