News

A minimally invasive chest surgery using a single-incision subxiphoid approach was used to effectively remove a tumor in the thymus of a 29-year-old woman with ectopic Cushing’s syndrome, as described in a recent case report. The muscle-sparing incision causes less trauma and potentially could reduce post-surgical pain and shorten recovery…

Metopirone (metyrapone) and Isturisa (osilodrostat) were both effective at controlling cortisol levels in people with endogenous Cushing’s syndrome over a 12-week period, according to a recent study. However, Isturisa tended to lower cortisol levels faster, and appeared to be better at controlling blood pressure than Metopirone. Some heart…

Hard-to-treat psychosis can be one of the first signs of Cushing’s disease, according to researchers in Saudi Arabia who detailed the case of a young woman with the disorder who was initially misdiagnosed. The 22-year-old patient “presented to a psychiatry hospital before being referred to us because she resisted…

Children and adolescents with Cushing’s disease who have subclinical bleeding near their disease-driving tumors may respond differently to tests used to diagnose the disease, compared with patients without this bleeding, according to a new study. These differences may complicate the diagnostic workup of these patients and “should be incorporated…

For people with Cushing’s disease who have pituitary tumors that are not visible by MRI, careful exploratory surgery coupled with initial analyses to identify the location of a tumor can be used to achieve remission, a new study highlights. “The rate of MRI-negative [tumors] is reported to be between…

Mutations in the GPR101 and USP8 genes might have contributed to the growth of a particularly large and aggressive pituitary tumor that caused Cushing’s disease in a young girl. The case was described in the report, “Concurrent mutations of germline GPR101 and somatic USP8 in a pediatric giant…

Treatment with Isturisa (osilodrostat) normalized urine cortisol levels up to nearly 1.5 years in people with Cushing’s disease, according to data from the Phase 3 LINC-4 clinical trial. Data from another Phase 3 trial, LINC-3 (NCT02180217), showed that testosterone levels were generally stable among Cushing’s patients treated with…

Transsphenoidal surgery (TSS), a minimally invasive surgery to remove tumors from the brain’s pituitary gland, was deemed safe and effective to treat Cushing’s disease in a 67-year-old woman, as described in a recent case report. While TSS is usually avoided in older patients due to a higher risk of…

A bilateral adrenalectomy — a surgery to remove both adrenal glands — to lower cortisol levels in patients with Cushing’s syndrome was associated with more severe post-surgery complications and a higher mortality rate, compared with unilateral adrenalectomy, a study has found. “If indicated, bilateral adrenalectomy is a feasible option for…

The levels of an enzyme that activates glucocorticoids, including cortisol, from their inactive forms, are increased in abdominal fat tissue — abdominal obesity is a hallmark of Cushing’s syndrome — in two mouse models of glucocorticoid excess. Importantly, the enzyme, called 11 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (HSD-1), also was found…