Janet Stewart, MSc,  —

Patients 60 and older living with Cushing’s disease have lower body mass index, a measure of body fat, and more muscle wasting than patients younger than 60, a study has found. However, the rates of remission following surgery are similar. The study, “Cushing’s Disease in Older…

Low levels of some hormone receptors in patients with subclinical Cushing’s syndrome and in those with a type of adrenal gland tumor called pheochromocytoma, all with abnormal hormone levels in their blood, were linked to weight gain and obesity, a risk factor for cardiovascular and other diseases. Increases in…

Treatment with Signifor (pasireotide) for one year reduces the risk for heart disease and diabetes in patients with Cushing’s disease, by improving visceral adiposity index (VAI) scores and adipose tissue dysfunction, according to a multi-center study. However, Signifor did not prevent an increase in cases of diabetes, or change heart disease risk…

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…

Stereotactic radiosurgery – a type of targeted, high-dose radiation therapy – delivered with CyberKnife technology effectively induces remission in Cushing’s disease patients whose condition persisted after surgical removal of their pituitary glands. However, researchers advise, caution when interpreting the findings. While promising, the study included only a small group of patients analyzed retrospectively.

Microwave therapy improved the Cushing’s syndrome of a woman whose lungs had almost failed, allowing her to have the adrenal surgery needed to control her disease, a case study showed. Lung infections had led to her near-respiratory failure. Cushing’s syndrome stems from the pituitary gland producing excessive amounts of adrenocorticotropic…

A long-acting, once-a-month treatment of Signifor (pasireotide) normalized cortisol levels in 40% of patients with Cushing’s disease whose disease had recurred after surgery, or who were not candidates for surgery, according to new data from a Phase 3 trial. The safety profiles of the once-monthly regimen proved to…

A test for cortisone in saliva, collected late at night, or early in the morning after suppression with dexamethasone, was found to be accurate for measuring high levels of cortisol (hypercortisolism), which are believed to cause Cushing’s syndrome. This suggests that only a simple, non-invasive test is needed to monitor…

Researchers report a new technique for collecting blood samples from tiny veins of the adrenal glands, called super-selective adrenal venous sampling (ssAVS). The technique can be used to hep diagnose diseases marked by excessive release of  adrenal hormones, such as subclinical Cushing’s syndrome (SCS) or primary aldesteronism (PA). The study,…