Cushing’s Help RSS FeedFrom the February, 2022 issue of Reader’s Digest:
Read the original article at readers-digest-misdiagnosed
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An international panel reached consensus for pre- and postoperative endocrine testing to manage adults undergoing transsphenoidal surgery, including measurement of prolactin and insulin-like growth factor I levels for all pituitary tumors.
In adults and children, transsphenoidal surgery represents the cornerstone of management for most large or functioning sellar lesions with the exception of prolactinomas, Maria Fleseriu, MD, FACE, an Endocrine Today Editorial Board Member, professor of medicine and neurological surgery and director of the Pituitary Center at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, and colleagues wrote in Pituitary. Endocrine evaluation and management are an essential part of perioperative care; however, the details of endocrine assessment and care are not universally agreed on.
“Perioperative management of patients undergoing pituitary surgery is fascinating, as it involves many specialties — endocrinology, neurosurgery and ENT — and patients also get discharged very quickly in some countries, such as the United States,” Fleseriu told Healio. “At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Physician Education Committee of the Pituitary Society, comprised of members from four continents, met to discuss a more streamlined process for workup before and after surgery for patients undergoing pituitary surgery. We have noticed big differences in management, but also some common themes, and decided to have a formal evaluation using a Delphi consensus and a much larger representation, with members from five continents.”
The task force behind the project, co-led by Nicholas A. Tritos, MD, DSc, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Pouneh K. Fazeli, MD, MPH, director of the neuroendocrinology unit and associate professor of medicine at University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, created 35 questions and invited 55 pituitary endocrinologists to answer the questions in two Delphi rounds. Participants rated their extent of agreement with statements pertaining to perioperative endocrine evaluation and management, using a Likert-type scale.
Strong consensus, defined as at least 80% of panelists rating their agreement as 6 to 7 on a scale from 1 to 7, was achieved for 24 of 35 items. Less strict agreement, defined as ratings of 5 to 7, was reached for 31 of 35 items.
There were several significant findings, Fleseriu said.
Despite uncertainty in previous guidelines, panelists reached consensus to measure serum IGF-I for all patients with pituitary tumors preoperatively to ensure proper diagnosis of growth hormone excess, Fleseriu said.
“This is important because patients with GH-secreting adenomas do not always present with classic manifestations of acromegaly, require additional evaluation for comorbidities and postoperatively may benefit from further medical therapy or other adjuvant treatment,” Fleseriu said.
Panelists also expressed agreement on preoperative administration of glucocorticoid and thyroid hormone replacement for patients with diagnosed deficiencies, as well as perioperative use of stress-dose glucocorticoid coverage for patients with known or suspected hypoadrenalism, but not for all patients undergoing transsphenoidal surgery. Panelists also agreed on postoperative monitoring of serum sodium and cortisol and the use of desmopressin on-demand, required to control hypernatremia and/or polyuria, for patients with central diabetes insipidus.
“Agreement was achieved on postoperative monitoring of endocrine function, including morning serum cortisol in patients with Cushing’s disease, as well as serum IGF-I in patients with acromegaly,” Fleseriu said.
Panelists did not reach consensus for a minority of items, representing areas where further research is needed, including measuring serum prolactin in dilution for all patients with large macroadenomas, Fleseriu said.
“Prolactin immunoassays can be susceptible to the ‘hook effect’ artifact, which may lead to substantial underreporting of prolactin values in sera containing very high prolactin concentrations, thus having important implications for patient management,” Fleseriu said. “Newer automated immunoassay platforms are likely to detect the hook effect; however, this may not be the case in older assays, which are still in use in many countries or laboratories. Therefore, especially when surgery is performed at an institution where automated assays are available to detect hook effect, yet patient workup has been carried out at an outside laboratory, additional lab workup might be needed. We envision this scenario can occur more often with the widespread use of telemedicine and endocrine testing being carried out at a distant laboratory.”
Additionally, there was a lack of consensus regarding preoperative testing for hypercortisolism in all patients with an apparently nonfunctioning pituitary adenoma. “This might reflect concern about false-positive results of endocrine testing in some individuals,” Fleseriu said. “On the other hand, published data suggest that some patients with Cushing’s disease may lack typical symptoms and signs and can present with an incidentally found sellar mass.”
Panelists did not reach consensus on items concerning preoperative medical therapy for patients with acromegaly or Cushing’s disease, potentially reflecting differences in practice among international centers, the clinical heterogeneity of patient populations, and ongoing uncertainties regarding the benefits of preoperative medical therapy.
“Single-center clinical experience suggests that preoperative medical therapy may be helpful in patients with Cushing’s disease and severe acute psychiatric illness or sepsis,” Fleseriu said. “Studies on acromegaly have very discordant results.
“With this study — the largest international Delphi consensus on perioperative management of patients undergoing pituitary surgery — we identified key steps in protocols which are ready to be implemented in most centers, especially for preoperative evaluation, sodium abnormalities and glucocorticoids administration postop,” Fleseriu said. “We have also highlighted several areas where need for more research is needed to optimize patients’ outcomes.”
Maria Fleseriu, MD, FACE, can be reached at fleseriu@ohsu.edu; Twitter: @MariaFleseriu.
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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the clinical use of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner — the ultra-high-field 7T Terra MRI — with unprecedented resolution that allows for more reliable images of the brain.
The approach recently allowed the precise localization of a small tumor in the pituitary gland, which standard MRI had failed to spot, in a patient with Cushing’s disease.
So far, only one scanner of this kind exists in the U.S.. It was installed in February 2017 at the Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute (INI) of the Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California (USC).
The new scanner has an increased magnetic field strength of 7 Tesla, which is more than four times that of conventional MRI. This property greatly improves the instrument’s signal-to-noise ratio, dramatically increasing the spatial resolution and contrast of its images so that scientists can visualize the human living brain in high-definition and with unprecedented detail.
The 7T Terra is ideal for high-resolution neuroimaging, exploration of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, and diagnosis and treatment of other brain diseases, a USC news story by Zara Greenbaum states.
Earlier this year, a report described the case of women with Cushing’s disease with a pituitary adenoma (slow-growing, benign tumor in the pituitary gland) that was possible to localize only with the new 7T MRI.
Based on laboratory analysis that revealed high levels of adrenocorticotropic hormone(ACTH) and cortisol, the doctors suspected a pituitary adenoma and recommended the patient for surgery. However, they ignored the precise location of the tumor, which failed to be detected by standard MRI scanners (1T and 3T).
Two hours before surgery, the woman underwent a 7T MRI scan which finally identified with high precision the location of the adenoma, a very small tumor of 8 mm on the right side of the pituitary gland.
“The 7T may save patients an invasive procedure. It also makes it easier for neurosurgeons to selectively remove a tumor without damaging surrounding areas,” said Gabriel Zada, MD, associate professor of neurological surgery at the Keck School.
Since its arrival, the device has supported exploratory research into both healthy and diseased brains.
Now the scanner’s advanced imaging technology can be used to help with diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of patients with neurological diseases, including Cushing’s disease.
“This device, which has already made its mark as a powerful tool to advance research in the neurosciences, is now accessible to clinical populations in addition to researchers,” said Arthur W. Toga, PhD, provost professor and chair at the Keck School and director of the USC Stevens INI.
“Clinicians across the university and beyond can now leverage all the benefits of increased spatial resolution to serve patients in need,” he said.
Adapted from https://cushingsdiseasenews.com/2018/11/06/fda-oks-high-resolution-mri-better-spotting-pituitary-tumor-cushings/
Filed under: Cushing's, Diagnostic Testing, pituitary | Tagged: 7T scanner, 7T Terra MRI, FDA, pituitary, pituitary tumor | Leave a comment »
Using endoscopic or microscopic techniques to surgically remove the pituitary glands leads to similar remission and recurrence rates in Cushing’s disease patients, a review of 24 studies shows.
The study, titled “Outcome of endoscopic vs microsurgical transsphenoidal resection for Cushing’s disease,” was published in the journal Endocrine Connections.
In endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery, a surgeon uses a tiny camera as a guide, allowing for a panoramic surgical view with increased illumination of anatomic structures. In microsurgical transsphenoidal resection, a surgeon views through a microscope and uses minute instruments or lasers. Both procedures are used in transsphenoidal (TS) surgery to remove pituitary gland tumors, the root cause of Cushing’s disease. In transsphenoidal surgery, a surgeon accesses the pituitary gland through the nose and sinuses.
While endoscopic surgery seems to lead to better patient outcomes, it was unclear before this study if it has any advantages in patients with Cushing’s disease.
To gain more insight into the remission and recurrence rates of both techniques, researchers examined a total of 24 studies that included 1,670 adult patients with Cushing’s syndrome. Of these patients, 702 underwent endoscopic TS, and 968 underwent microsurgical TS.
The study’s authors found that remission rates were similar in both groups. In the endoscopic group, an average of 79.7 percent of patients experienced remission versus 76.9 percent in the microscopic group.
Patients who underwent endoscopic surgery experienced recurrence less often than those who underwent microscopic surgery, with recurrence rates of 11 percent and 15.9 percent, respectively. But researchers pointed out that follow-up times in the studies varied, making comparisons unreliable.
When recurrence rates were calculated by person per year, which takes follow-up time into account, both groups had a recurrence rate of approximately 4 percent per person per year.
Previous studies have shown that complications following either type of surgery occurred at comparable rates. These complications include hypothyroidism (underactivity of the thyroid gland), diabetes insipidus (a condition characterized by increased thirst), CSF leakage (leakage of fluid that normally bathes the brain and spinal cord), visual defects, hypocortisolemia (low cortisol blood levels), and hypogonadism (little or no hormones produced by the sex glands).
“We found that overall remission proportion was the same in CD patients who underwent endoscopic TS compared to patients who underwent microscopic TS. However, patients treated with the endoscopic approach for micro-adenomas were more likely to achieve remission than those treated microsurgically. Patients treated endoscopically were less likely to experience recurrence; however, when follow-up time is taken into account, this advantage disappears,” the researchers concluded.
Filed under: Cushing's, pituitary, Treatments | Tagged: Cushing's Disease, endoscopic, microscopic, pituitary tumor, recurrence, remission, surgery, transsphenoidal | Leave a comment »
The chemotherapy temozolomide partially improved a case of an aggressive pituitary tumor that caused symptoms of Cushing’s disease (CD), according to a new study in Poland. However, after tumor mass and cortisol levels were stabilized for a few months, the patient experienced rapid progression, suggesting that new methods for extending the effects of temozolomide are needed.
The study, “Temozolomide therapy for aggressive pituitary Crooke’s cells corticotropinoma causing Cushing’s Disease: A case report with literature review,” appeared in the journal Endokrynologia Polska.
Aggressive pituitary tumors are usually invasive macroadenomas, or benign tumors larger than 10 mm.
A very rare subset of pituitary adenoma — particularly corticotropinoma, or tumors with excessive secretion of corticotropin (ACTH) — exhibit Crooke’s cells. These tumors are highly invasive, have a high recurrence rate, and are often resistant to treatment.
Information is not widely available about the effectiveness of treating aggressive pituitary tumors, particularly those that cause Cushing’s disease. The management of these tumors usually requires neurosurgery, followed by radiotherapy, and pharmacotherapy. However, the chemotherapy medication temozolomide has been increasingly used as a first-line treatment after initial evidence of its effectiveness in treating glioblastoma, the most common form of brain cancer.
In this study, researchers at the Jagiellonian University, in Poland, discussed the case of a 61-year-old man with ACTH-dependent Cushing’s syndrome caused by Crooke’s cell corticotropinoma.
The patient first presented with symptoms of severe hypercorticoidism — the excessive secretion of steroid hormones from the adrenal cortex — in December 2011. He also showed advanced heart failure, severe headaches, and impaired vision, which had started two or three years before diagnosis. Examinations revealed osteoporosis and a fracture in the Th5 vertebra.
His morning ACTH levels were high. The same was observed for mean cortisol levels even after dexamethasone treatment, which was suggestive of a pituitary tumor secreting ACTH. MRIs showed the existence of a tumor mass, later identified as a macroadenoma with high cell polymorphism, the presence of Crooke’s cells, and ACTH secretion.
The patient was referred for transsphenoidal nonradical neurosurgery, performed through the nose and the sphenoid sinus, and bilateral adrenalectomy, or the surgical removal of the adrenal glands, in 2012-2013. However, he developed fast, postoperative recurrence of hypercorticoidism and tumor regrowth. This led to three additional transsphenoidal neurosurgeries and radiotherapy.
The patient’s clinical status worsened as he developed severe cardiac insufficiency. Doctors began temozolomide treatment in April 2015, which did not result in adverse effects throughout treatment.
The initial standard dose (150–200 mg/m2) was given once daily in the morning for five consecutive days, in a 28-day cycle. The patient also received 600 mg of ketoconazole, an antifungal medication. Ondansetron was administered to prevent nausea and vomiting.
Subsequent examinations revealed clinical and biochemical improvements, including a reduction in ACTH and cortisol levels. In addition, the patient also showed reduced cardiac insufficiency, less frequent and less severe headaches, visual field improvements, and better physical fitness and mood.
However, clinical symptoms worsened after the eighth temozolomide cycle. The tumor size also suddenly increased after the ninth cycle, reaching the inner ear. Temozolomide was then discontinued and ACTH levels increased by 28 percent one month later. The patient also demonstrated deteriorated vision, hearing loss, and strong headaches.
Clinicians then decided to start treatment with the Cushing’s disease therapy Signifor (pasireotide), but a worsening of diabetes was observed, and the patient died in February 2016.
“The most probable reason for death was compression of the brainstem, which had been observed in the last MRI of the pituitary,” the researchers wrote, adding that “due to the very short duration of treatment, any conclusions on the treatment with Signifor cannot be drawn.”
Overall, “the results of the presented case suggest that [temozolomide] treatment monotherapy could have only partial response in aggressive corticotroph adenoma causing Cushing’s disease, followed by sudden progression,” the investigators wrote. This contrasts with mostly responsive cases reported in research literature, they noted.
“Therefore, further research on the factors of responsiveness and on novel methods to extend the duration of the effect of [temozolomide] should be carried out,” they wrote.
Filed under: Cushing's, pituitary, Rare Diseases, Treatments | Tagged: chemotherapy, Crooke's cells, Cushing's Disease, pasireotide, pituitary, pituitary tumor, Signifor, Temozolomide, transsphenoidal | Leave a comment »
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