Mild Cases of Cushing’s Syndrome Present Diagnostic Challenges

Posted on August 16, 2017 by MaryO

By Tori Rodriguez, MA, LPC

 

In the early 20th century, the term “pluriglandular syndrome” was coined by Harvey Cushing to describe the disorder that results from chronic tissue exposure to excessive levels of glucocorticoids.1 Now called Cushing’s syndrome, the condition affects an estimated 10-15 million people annually, most often women and individuals between the ages of 20 and 50 years.2 Risk factors and common comorbidities include hypertension, obesity, osteoporosis, uncontrolled diabetes, depression, and anxiety.3

Presentation

The clinical presentation of the disorder is heterogenous and varies by sex, age, and disease severity. Common signs and symptoms include central adiposity, roundness of the face or extra fat around the neck, thin skin, impaired short-term memory and concentration, irritability, hirsutism in women, fatigue, and menstrual irregularity.4 Because each of these features may be observed in a wide range of other conditions, it may be difficult to diagnose cases that are not severe.

“It can be challenging to differentiate the milder forms from pseudo-Cushing’s states,” which are characterized by altered cortisol production and many of the same clinical features as Cushing’s syndrome, according to Roberto Salvatori, MD, the medical director of the Johns Hopkins Pituitary Center, Baltimore, Maryland. These may include alcoholism, obesity, eating disorders, and depression. “Because Cushing’s can cause depression, for example, it is sometimes difficult to determine which came first,” he says. In these states, however, hypercortisolism is believed to be driven by increased secretion of hypothalamic corticotropin-releasing hormone, which is suppressed in Cushing’s syndrome.5

Causes and Diagnosis

If Cushing’s syndrome is suspected on the basis of the patient’s physical appearance, the diagnostic workup should include a thorough medical history, physical exam, and 1 or more of the following tests to establish hypercortisolism: the 24-hour urinary cortisol test, the low-dose dexamethasone suppression test, or the late-night salivary cortisol test. “We sometimes use 2 or 3 of these tests since 1 may not accurately reflect cortisol production in a particular patient,” Dr Salvatori notes. The next step is to determine the source of the hypercortisolism, which may involve the high-dose dexamethasone suppression test, magnetic resonance imaging, or petrosal sinus sampling.2

Medication is the most common cause of Cushing’s syndrome. These iatrogenic or exogenous cases typically result from corticosteroids administered for conditions such as asthma, allergies, and autoimmune disorders.6 More rarely, the disorder can be caused by the use of medroxyprogesterone. In these cases, corticosteroids should be reduced or discontinued under medical care, if possible.

Endogenous Cushing’s syndrome results from the presence of benign or malignant tumors on the adrenal or pituitary glands or elsewhere in the body. These tumors can interfere with the adrenal glands’ production of cortisol that is usually prompted by the adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) released by the pituitary gland.6 There are 3 different mechanisms by which the process can occur.

  • Pituitary adenomas, which account for approximately 70% of endogenous cases of Cushing’s syndrome, secrete ACTH and stimulate additional cortisol production. Because of the large proportion of cases this condition represents, it is specifically referred to as Cushing’s disease. It is more common in women than men (with a ratio of 3 to 4:1), although in pediatric patients, it occurs more frequently in boys vs girls.5
  • Adrenal tumors (adenomas, malignant tumors, or micronodular hyperplasia) produce cortisol in their own tissue in addition to the amount produced by the adrenal glands. These tumors, which cause approximately 15% of endogenous Cushing’s syndrome cases, are more common in children vs adults and in women vs men.
  • Benign or malignant tumors elsewhere in the body, most often the lungs, thyroid, thymus, and pancreas, secrete ACTH and trigger the excessive release of cortisol. An estimated 15% of endogenous cases are attributed to these types of tumors.

Treatment

Surgery is the first-line treatment for Cushing’s syndrome. “We first want to try to figure out the cause of the disorder,” Dr Salvatori says. “Ideally, treatment involves surgery to remove the tumor that is causing it.”

When surgery is unsuccessful, contraindicated, or delayed, other treatment options include radiation or medications that inhibit cortisol, modulate the release of ACTH, or inhibit steroidogenesis.5 Bilateral adrenalectomy may be indicated for patients who do not respond to medication or other surgery.

If surgical resection of the tumor is successful, then “all of the comorbidities reverse, but if it is unsuccessful or must be delayed, you would treat each comorbidity” with the appropriate medication; for example, antihypertensives for high blood pressure and antidiabetic medications for diabetes, Dr Salvatori advises. In severe cases, prophylactic antibiotics may be indicated for the prevention of severe infections such as pneumonia.

It is also important to inquire about and address psychiatric symptoms related to Cushing’s syndrome, even in patients who are in remission. It has been proposed that the chronic hypercortisolism and dysfunction of the HPA axis may “lead to structural and functional changes in the central nervous system, developing brain atrophy, particularly in the hippocampus, which may determine the high prevalence of psychiatric disorders, such as affective and anxiety disorders or cognitive dysfunctions,” according to a recently published paper on the topic.7 Patients should be screened with self-report questionnaires such as the Beck Depression Inventory and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and management of psychiatric symptoms may include patient education, psychotropic medications, and referral to a mental health professional.

Future Directions

Several trials are currently planned or underway, including a phase 2 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of an oral medication called ATR-101 by Millendo Therapeutics, Inc. (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03053271). In addition to the need for novel medical therapies, refined imaging techniques could improve surgical success rates in patients with Cushing’s disease in particular, according to Dr Salvatori. “A significant portion of these patients have tumors too small to be detected by MRI, and the development of more sensitive MRI could improve detection and provide a surgical target” for neurosurgeons treating the patients, he says.

Summary

Milder cases of Cushing’s syndrome present diagnostic challenges are a result overlapping features with various other conditions. Diagnosis may require careful observation as well as biochemical and imaging tests.

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References

  1. Loriaux DL. Diagnosis and differential diagnosis of Cushing’s syndrome. N Engl J Med. 2017;376:1451-1459. doi:10.1056/NEJMra1505550
  2. American Association of Neurological Surgeons. Cushing’s syndrome/disease. http://www.aans.org/Patients/Neurosurgical-Conditions-and-Treatments/Cushings-Disease. Accessed August 1, 2017.
  3. León-Justel A, Madrazo-Atutxa A, Alvarez-Rios AI, et al. A probabilistic model for cushing’s syndrome screening in at-risk populations: a prospective multicenter study. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2016;101:3747-3754. doi:10.1210/jc.2016-1673
  4. The Pituitary Society. Cushing’s syndrome and disease–symptoms. https://pituitarysociety.org/patient-education/pituitary-disorders/cushings/symptoms-of-cushings-disease-and-cushings-syndrome. Accessed August 1, 2017.
  5. Sharma ST, Nieman LK, Feelders RA. Cushing’s syndrome: epidemiology and developments in disease management. Clin Epidemiol. 2015;7:281-293. doi:10.2147/CLEP.S44336
  6. National Institutes of Health: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. What causes Cushing’s syndrome?https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/cushing/conditioninfo/pages/causes.aspx. Accessed August 1, 2017.
  7. Santos A, Resmini E, Pascual JC, Crespo I, Webb SM. Psychiatric symptoms in patients with Cushing’s syndrome: prevalence, diagnosis and management. Drugs. 2017;77:829-842. doi:10.1007/s40265-017-0735-z

From http://www.endocrinologyadvisor.com/adrenal/cushings-syndrome-diagnosis-treatment/article/682302/

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Who’s at Risk for Cushing’s?

Posted on August 16, 2016 by MaryO

by Kristen Monaco
Contributing Writer, MedPage Today

Researchers have developed a new method to assess specific populations for Cushing’s syndrome, based on results from a multicenter study.

The prospective cohort study evaluated at-risk patients for Cushing’s syndrome to create a novel type of scoring system in order to better predict the development of disease, stated lead author Antonio León-Justel, PhD,of the Seville Institute of Biomedicine in Spain, and colleagues.

Cushing’s syndrome is identified by an excess of cortisol and/or glucocorticoids in the blood, which can result in myriad negative health outcomes, including an increased risk of death and morbidity, according to the study in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Because Cushing’s syndrome (CS) is complex and difficult to diagnose, there is a necessity for new methods to assess at-risk populations in order to mitigate the rising prevalence of the disorder, the authors noted.

“The diagnosis of CS might pose a considerable challenge even for experienced endocrinologists since there are no pathognomonic symptoms or signs of CS and most of the symptoms and signs of CS are common in the general population including obesity, hypertension, bone loss, and diabetes,” the senior author, Alfonso Leal Cerro, MD, toldMedPage Today via email. “Routine screening for CS remains impractical due to the estimated low prevalence of the disease. However this prevalence might be higher in at-risk populations.”

The authors screened a total of 353 at-risk patients from 13 different hospitals across Spain between January 2012 and July 2013 to measure cortisol variability from saliva samples.

At-risk populations, which the authors note have a higher prevalence of Cushing’s syndrome, included individuals with type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and osteoporosis.

The patients screened in the study were each identified as having at least two of the risk factors for Cushing’s syndrome: high blood pressure (defined as taking two or more drugs and having a systolic blood pressure over 140 mmHg and/or a diastolic blood pressure over 90 mmHg), obesity (body mass index >30), uncontrolled diabetes (HbA1c>7.0%), osteoporosis (T-score ≥ -2.5 SD), and virilization syndrome (hirsutism) with menstrual disorders.

The researchers used clinical and biochemical methods of assessment. Clinical methods included inspection of physical characteristics, such as muscle atrophy, purple striae, and/or facial plethora. Biochemical methods included collecting saliva and blood samples from participants to test cortisol levels using a chemiluminescence method. Each individual was identified as either negative for hypercortisolism (late-night salivary cortisol [LNSC] ≤ 7.5 nmol/L and dexamethasone suppression test [DST] ≤ 50 nmol/L) or positive for hypercortisolism (LNSC > 7.5 nmol/L and DST > 50 nmol/L).

Univariate testing indicated the following significant characteristics to be positively correlated with the development of Cushing’s syndrome:

  • Muscular atrophy (15.2, CI 95% 4.48-51.25);
  • Osteoporosis (4.60, 1.66-12.75); and
  • Dorsocervical fat pad (3.32, 1.48-7.5).

A logistic regression analysis of LNSC values also showed significant correlation between Cushing’s syndrome and the following top three characteristics:

  • Muscular atrophy (9.04, CI 95% 2.36-34.65);
  • Osteoporosis (3.62, CI 95% 1.16-11.35); and
  • Dorsocervical fat pad (3.3, CI 95% 1.52-7.17).

Roberto Salvatori, MD, professor and medical director of the Johns Hopkins Pituitary Center, who was not involved with the study, commented to MedPage Today in an email: “Any endocrinologist would proceed with careful Cushing biochemical evaluation in the presence of the clinical features (muscular atrophy, osteoporosis, and dorsocervical fat pad) that are well known to be associated with hypercortisolism. Of notice, the odds ratio is further increased by an abnormal late-night salivary cortisol, which is already a screening test for hypercortisolism.”

The researchers used their results to develop an equation to determine the level of risk a patient has for developing Cushing’s syndrome, taking into account factors for osteoporosis, dorsocervical fat pads, muscular atrophy, and LNSC levels.

Although the study was able to develop a comprehensive risk model for the syndrome, when tested against the prevalence for Cushing’s syndrome in the subject group, the equation generated a total of 56 false-positive and 25 true-positive results. Overall, the researchers wrote, 83% of patients were accurately classified as belonging to the at-risk population when using the equation.

Because the newly developed equation for identifying at-risk individuals involved factors that are relatively easy to test for, the authors noted that clinical application is broad and cost-effective in a primary care setting.

“We would like to test the scoring system in different clinical settings such as primary care or hypertension clinics,” Leal Cerro said. “Primary care would be a particularly interesting setting since it might significantly decrease the time to diagnosis, something critical to avoid an excessive exposure to glucocorticoid excess and consequent deleterious effects.”

Salvatori said that while the study was a good start at shedding light on some of the unknowns about Cushing’s syndrome, more research is required. “The real question in my mind is when does a non-endocrinologist need to suspect Cushing in a general medicine, orthopedic, or other clinic? When the internal medicine residents ask me about guidelines for ‘who to screen for hypercortisolism in my clinic,’ I am unable to provide an evidence-based answer.”

The study was funded by a grant from Novartis Oncology, Spain.

León-Justel and Leal Cerro disclosed financial relationships with Novartis Oncology, Spain.

  • Reviewed by F. Perry Wilson, MD, MSCEAssistant Professor, Section of Nephrology, Yale School of Medicine and Dorothy Caputo, MA, BSN, RN, Nurse Planner

LAST UPDATED 08.15.2016

From http://www.medpagetoday.com/endocrinology/generalendocrinology/59688

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8th Annual Johns Hopkins Pituitary Patient Day

Posted on June 7, 2016 by MaryO

Johns Hopkins Pituitary Patient Day

Join us on Saturday, September 17, 2016

8th Annual Johns Hopkins Pituitary Patient Day
Saturday, September 17, 2016, 9:30 a.m.
Location:
Johns Hopkins Mt. Washington Conference Center
5801 Smith Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21209
map and directions

This is a free event, but seating is limited. Reserve your space now: Please R.S.V.P. by September 9, 2016 by email (preferred) to PituitaryDay@jhmi.edu  or by calling Alison Dimick at 410-955-3921.

Agenda

9:30 – 9:55 a.m.: Registration

9:55 – 10:00 a.m.: Welcome and Acknowledgements

10:00 – 10:25 a.m.: Different Kinds of Tumors in the Pituitary Area: Non-Functioning, Acromegaly, Cushing, etc. (Roberto Salvatori, M.D.)

10:25 – 10:50 a.m.: The Pituitary Gland, Cortisol and Stress (Gary Wand, M.D.)

10:50 – 11:10 a.m.: A Patient’s Story

11:10 – 11:30 a.m.: The Eye and the Pituitary Gland: Why It’s Important to SEE the Right Doctor (Pun Intended) (Dan Gold, D.O.)

11:30 – 11:50 a.m.: Surgery for Pituitary Tumors: (Not So Scary) Pictures from the Operating Room Treating Acromegaly, Cushing and Non-Functioning Tumors (Gary Gallia, M.D., Ph.D.)

11:50 a.m. – 12:10 p.m.: Coordinating the Care of Pituitary Patients: It Takes a Village (Pituitary Nurse)

12:10 – 12:30 p.m.: Radiation Therapy for Cushing, Acromegaly and Non-Functioning Tumors: A Good Option when Needed (Lawrence Kleinberg, M.D.)

12:30 – 1:25 p.m.: Lunch

1:30 – 3:00 p.m. Round Table Discussions:

  • Medical: Making Sense of So Many Medications
  • Surgical: Meet Surgeons and Patients Who Have Had Pituitary Surgery
  • Radiation: Share Your eX-peRience!

Filed under: Cushing's, Meetings and Conferences, pituitary, Rare Diseases, symptoms, Treatments | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Day 13, Cushing’s Awareness Challenge 2016

Posted on April 13, 2016 by MaryO

UVA 2004
Cushing’s Conventions have always been special times for me – we learn a lot, get to meet other Cushies, even get referrals to endos!

As early as 2001 (or before) my pituitary function was dropping.  My former endo tested annually but did nothing to help me with the symptoms.

In the fall of 2002 my endo refused to discuss my fatigue or anything at all with me until I lost 10 pounds. He said I wasn’t worth treating in my overweight condition and that I was setting myself up for a heart attack. He gave me 3 months to lose this weight. Those 3 months included Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years.  Needless to say, I left his office in tears, again.

Fast forward 2 years to 2004.  I had tried for a while to get my records from this endo. He wouldn’t send them, even at doctors’ or my requests.

I wanted to go see Dr. Vance at UVa but I had no records so she wouldn’t see me until I could get them.

Finally, my husband went to the former endo’s office and threatened him with a court order. The office manager managed to come up with about 13 pages of records. For going to him from 1986 to 2001 including weeks and weeks at NIH and pituitary surgery, that didn’t seem like enough records to me.

In April of 2004, many of us from the message boards went to the UVa Pituitary Days Convention. That’s where the picture above comes in.  Other pictures from that convention are here.

By chance, we met a wonderful woman named Barbara Craven. She sat at our table for lunch on the last day and, after we learned that she was a dietitian who had had Cushing’s, one of us jokingly asked her if she’d do a guest chat for us. I didn’t follow through on this until she emailed me later. In the email, she asked how I was doing. Usually I say “fine” or “ok” but for some reason, I told her exactly how awful I was feeling.

Barbara emailed me back and said I should see a doctor at Johns Hopkins. I said I didn’t think I could get a recommendation to there, so SHE referred me. The doctor got right back to me, set up an appointment. Between his vacation and mine, that first appointment turned out to be Tuesday, Sept 14, 2004.

Just getting through the maze at Johns Hopkins was amazing. They have the whole system down to a science, moving from one place to another to sign in, then go here, then window 6, then… But it was very efficient.

My new doctor was wonderful. Understanding, knowledgeable. He never once said that I was “too fat” or “depressed” or that all this was my own fault. I feel so validated, finally.

He looked through my records, especially at my 2 previous Insulin Tolerance Tests (ITT). From those, he determined that my growth hormone has been low since at least August 2001 and I’ve been adrenal insufficient since at least Fall, 1999 – possibly as much as 17 years! I was amazed to hear all this, and astounded that my former endo not only didn’t tell me any of this, he did nothing. He had known both of these things – they were in the past records that I took with me. Perhaps that was why he had been so reluctant to share copies of those records. He had given me Cortef in the fall of 1999 to take just in case I had “stress” and that was it.

The new endo took a lot of blood (no urine!) for cortisol and thyroid stuff. I went back on Sept. 28, 2004 for arginine, cortrosyn and IGF testing.

He said that I would end up on daily cortisone – a “sprinkling” – and some form of GH, based on the testing the 28th.

For those who are interested, my new endo is Roberto Salvatori, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins

Medical School: Catholic University School of Medicine, Rome, Italy
Residency: Montefiore Medical Center
Fellowship: Cornell University, Johns Hopkins University
Board Certification: Endocrinology and Metabolism, Internal Medicine

Clinical Interests: Neuroendocrinology, pituitary disorders, adrenal disorders

Research Interests: Control of growth hormone secretion, genetic causes of growth hormone deficiency, consequences of growth hormone deficiency.

Although I have this wonderful doctor, a specialist in growth hormone deficiency at Johns Hopkins, in November, 2004, my insurance company saw fit to over-ride his opinions and his test results based on my past pharmaceutical history! Hello??? How could I have a history of taking GH when I’ve never taken it before?

Of course, I found out late on a Friday afternoon. By then it was too late to call my case worker at the drug company, so we had to appeal on Monday. My local insurance person also worked on an appeal, but the whole thing was  just another long ordeal of finding paperwork, calling people, FedExing stuff, too much work when I just wanted to start feeling better by Thanksgiving.

As it turned out the insurance company rejected the brand of hGH that was prescribed for me. They gave me the ok for a growth hormone was just FDA-approved for adults on 11/4/04. The day this medication was approved for adults was the day after my insurance said that’s what is preferred for me. In the past, this form of hGH was only approved for children with height issues. Was I going to be a ginuea pig again?

The new GH company assigned a rep for me, submitted info to pharmacy, and waited for insurance approval, again.

I finally started the Growth Hormone December 7, 2004.

Was the hassle and 3 year wait worth it?

Stay tuned for April 15, 2016 when all will be revealed.

Read

Read Dr. Barbara Craven’s Guest Chat, October 27, 2004

Thanks for reading 🙂

MaryO

Filed under: adrenal crisis, Cushing's, Cushing's Awareness Challenge 2016, Meetings and Conferences, pituitary, symptoms, Treatments | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Common Asthma Steroids Linked to Side Effects in Adrenal Glands

Posted on April 25, 2015 by MaryO

(Reuters Health) – After stopping steroids commonly prescribed for asthma and allergies, a significant number of people may experience signs of malfunctioning in the adrenal glands, a European study finds.

So-called adrenal insufficiency can be dangerous, especially if the person’s body has to cope with a stress like surgery, injury or a serious illness, the study authors say.

“The takeaway message of the study is that in corticosteroid use there is a substantial risk of adrenal insufficiency,” senior author Dr. Olaf Dekkers, an endocrinologist at Aarhus University in Denmark, said by email. “Patients should be aware of this risk and be informed about potential symptoms.”

Those symptoms can include fatigue, dizziness, weight loss and salt cravings, the authors write in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

Corticosteroids are man-made drugs designed to mimic the hormone cortisol, which the adrenal glands produce naturally. The drugs are usually used to counter inflammation in a wide range of conditions, including asthma, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, blood cancers and organ transplants.

People with adrenal insufficiency do not make enough of two hormones, cortisol and aldosterone. Cortisol helps the body respond to stress, recover from infections and regulate blood pressure and metabolism. Aldosterone helps maintain the right amounts of salt, potassium and water in the body.

While on steroids, the body often produces less of these hormones naturally, and after coming off the drugs it can take a while for natural production to ramp back up. The result is adrenal insufficiency, which can be treated with medication to replace cortisol or aldosterone.

Dekkers and colleagues analyzed 74 research articles published from 1975 to 2014, covering a total of 3753 study participants, to see how different doses and types of corticosteroid treatment might impact the likelihood of developing adrenal insufficiency after treatment.

Researchers found the risk of adrenal insufficiency was highest when corticosteroids were taken orally or injected, and lower with inhaled, nasal or topical treatment.

When they looked just at patients using steroids for asthma, the researchers found that the risk of adrenal insufficiency was about 7 percent with inhaled corticosteroids, but about 44 percent with other formulations including oral medication.

Only about 2 percent of asthma patients on the lowest dose of steroids experienced adrenal insufficiency, compared with about 22 percent on the highest doses.

Similarly, slightly more than 1 percent of asthma patients on short-term steroids developed adrenal insufficiency, compared with about 27 percent on long-term treatment.

There is no way to safely halt treatment with corticosteroids that can rule out the potential for adrenal insufficiency, Dekkers said.

The side effect is more likely when patients take higher doses of steroids or remain on treatment for longer than three weeks, said Dr. Roberto Salvatori, medical director of the pituitary center at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.

“It’s likely, and it’s often overlooked because most often the people who prescribe corticosteroids aren’t endocrinologists; they are in other specialities and they don’t recognize the symptoms of adrenal insufficiency,” said Salvatori, who wasn’t involved in the study.

He gives his patients on corticosteroids medical identification bracelets or necklaces to wear so they can be identified as at risk for adrenal insufficiency in an emergency. “This is a very important issue that’s not on the radar screen,” he said.

To be sure, more physicians are aware of the risk now than in the 1970s, and the standard doses and durations of corticosteroid treatment have been reduced in part because of this risk, said Dr. Douglas Coursin, a professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison. He, too, advises medical alert bracelets for patients on long-term or high-dose treatment.

“In the past, patients with asthma, certain immune diseases, those receiving some cancer therapies and those who had a solid organ transplant received higher doses for longer periods of time,” Coursin, who wasn’t involved in the study, said by email. “Overall, I think the risk may be lower than outlined in the study because of practice changes.”

SOURCE: bit.ly/1PjRHYw Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, online April 6, 2015.

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