News

Assessment of late-night salivary cortisol (LNSC) levels is a poor diagnostic tool for detecting Cushing’s disease in obese patients, a new study from Germany shows. The test demonstrated a particularly poor sensitivity in obese people, meaning it will often suggest a patient has Cushing’s disease when that is not the case…

Tumors located outside of the pituitary gland — most commonly small-cell lung cancer — can lead to ectopic Cushing’s syndrome, a new case report shows. The study with that finding, “Case-series of paraneoplastic Cushing syndrome in small-cell lung cancer,” was published in the journal Endocrinology, Diabetes…

Detailed imaging analysis of patients with Cushing’s disease (CD) and other disorders caused by pituitary adenomas (tumors that arise from the pituitary, a small gland in the brain) provides correlation with clinical characteristics and treatment response, a new Turkish study reports. The research, “Clinicopathological…

Strongbridge Biopharma recently received a second patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office covering the use of Recorlev (levoketoconazole) for the treatment of Cushing’s syndrome. The patent (No. 9,918,984) is titled “Methods and Compositions for Treating Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Other Conditions” and will be active until Jan. 10,…

Repeat radiation therapy may be a reasonable third-line option for patients with persistent Cushing’s disease, after pituitary surgery and initial radiation therapy, a new study shows. Durable remission was seen in 50 percent of patients who received the treatment, according to the study. The research, titled, “Repeat…

Genetic sequencing and the speed with which it can help diagnose a child’s disease — in addition to revealing the genes that cause at least half of the 7,000 rare diseases currently known — was the focus of a discussion by three top New York geneticists. The Feb. 28 conference,…

The ratio between adrenocorticotropic hormone levels and cortisol levels in the blood is higher among Cushing’s disease patients than in healthy people, a new study has found, suggesting that measurement could be used to help diagnose the disease. Also, higher values at diagnosis could predict if the disease will recur…

Chronic alcoholism and associated magnesium and potassium deficiencies may cause a condition, called pseudo-Cushing’s syndrome, a recent case report from Japan shows. The research, “Hypokalemia associated with pseudo-Cushing’s syndrome and magnesium deficiency induced by chronic alcohol abuse,” was published in the journal CEN Case Reports. Chronic…

When it comes to rare diseases, one that definitely makes the list is spinal muscular atrophy with respiratory distress — SMARD, for short. Hunter Pageau, a 12-year-old boy from North Haven, Connecticut, is one of only 80 people in the world known to have SMARD, a motor neuron disease…

In his 10 months on the job, Commissioner Scott Gottlieb of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is earning praise for his efforts to make clinical trials for new therapies more flexible and responsive to the needs of rare disease patients. From cystic fibrosis to epidermolysis bullosa, the FDA…