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Isturisa (osilodrostat), a medication that blocks cortisol production, was effective in a group of patients with intense and severe hypercortisolism caused by ectopic Cushing’s syndrome, an observational study reported.  Of a total of 33 patients, 11 received Isturisa as a first-line monotherapy,…

A second transsphenoidal surgery (TSS) in Cushing’s disease patients with or without visible MRI lesions in the brain’s pituitary gland led to reasonable remission rates, a study reports. Of 42 patients, 29 (69%) achieved immediate remission after repeated surgery, with no difference in remission…

A rare plurihormonal tumor in the brain’s pituitary gland — one that produced and released both adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) and growth hormone — caused Cushing’s disease in a woman in her 30s, a case study reported. Given the rarity of tumors in which both types of hormones are produced,…

Treatment with Isturisa (osilodrostat) caused adrenal insufficiency — a condition in which the adrenal glands are unable to produce enough of certain hormones — in a 41-year-old woman with Cushing’s disease, a case report showed. While the researchers noted that “monitoring for side effects and biochemical and clinical…

A woman developed Cushing’s syndrome five years after being diagnosed with a neuroendocrine tumor of the cervix, according to a report from the U.S. This is a rare type of tumor for which “the options for treatment are few and not necessarily curative,” the report’s authors wrote. “Managing the…

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…

Eating licorice can increase the amount of cortisol detected in saliva, but licorice consumption does not alter salivary levels of a cortisol metabolite called cortisone, a recent study has found. Cortisone also is less variable in response to other confounding variables, and researchers proposed salivary cortisone may be a more…

PROP1, a pituitary gland protein that regulates gene activity related to hormone production, may play a role in the development of noncancerous tumors that cause Cushing’s disease, a small preliminary study suggested. According to researchers, PROP1 may be a therapeutic target for pituitary tumors. Future studies involving a larger…

Measuring the ratio of cortisol to adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) could help diagnose Cushing’s disease and other forms of Cushing’s syndrome, according to a recent study. “We think that it is possible to diagnose and screening [ACTH-independent Cushing’s syndrome] when CAR [cortisol-to-ACTH ratio] is elevated, and screening CD [Cushing’s disease]…