Margarida Maia, PhD, science writer —

Not many people who are very obese have Cushing’s syndrome, but a low-dose dexamethasone test may help distinguish who has the disease from who doesn’t before weight loss surgery, a Turkish study has reported. The study, “Assessment of the diagnostic performance of the 1 mg dexamethasone suppression test in…

A young man switched his standard diet to a ketogenic, or “keto,” diet that’s low in carbohydrates and high in fats to lose weight, and saw some of his symptoms of Cushing’s disease ease, according to a new report. But he wasn’t diagnosed until his symptoms came back or…

A woman developed Cushing’s syndrome following a medullary thyroid cancer that arose due to a mutation in a gene called RET, but her symptoms eased after starting Retsevmo (selpercatinib), a cancer medication, according to a report from France. The report, “Rapid and long-lasting response to selpercatinib of paraneoplastic Cushing’s…

Treatment with Isturisa (osilodrostat) for 1.5 years or longer kept urine cortisol levels close to normal in patients with Cushing’s disease, and this translated into fewer symptoms with no new side effects, a study has found. The findings come from an extension of LINC-3 (NCT02180217), a Phase…

Roughly half of people worldwide with Cushing’s syndrome see their diagnosis delayed by more than two years despite showing symptoms of the disease, according to a new international survey. Researchers found that this delay perhaps occurs because doctors dismiss some of the hormonal disorder’s initial symptoms — which…

A man with a known history of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and asthma developed Cushing’s syndrome after taking Tybost (cobicistat) together with fluticasone, according to a report from Spain. Tybost is a antiretroviral medicine booster, while fluticasone is a corticosteroid. The condition occurred because Tybost slows down how fast…

A man developed Cushing’s syndrome that was caused by a tumor in his prostate gland, according to a report from Singapore. He did not present the usual symptoms of Cushing’s, but instead appeared to have a severe excess of cortisol, the body’s main stress hormone. His symptoms included lower-than-normal…

People with an excess of cortisol due to a benign tumor in the adrenal glands, known as an adrenal adenoma, can be more prone to bone loss even if the excess is mild, according to a Japanese study. Bone loss was more common in women and patients with a low…

Adult stem cells derived from the belly skin of healthy people behaved in a similar way to fat cells when challenged to grow in an environment mimicking Cushing’s syndrome, a study found. According to the study’s authors, these cells “could represent a reliable model to track the mechanisms” involved in…

There are sets of microRNAs that may be used as markers for inherited or newly arising primary macronodular adrenal hyperplasia (PMAH), a rare cause of Cushing’s syndrome, a small study found. According to researchers, these microRNAs — short RNA molecules that help control the activity of certain genes — also…