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(See also Chap. 5) Cushing’s syndrome reflects a constellation of clinical features that result from chronic exposure to excess glucocorticoids of any etiology. The disorder can be ACTH-dependent (e.g., pituitary corticotrope adenoma, ectopic secretion of ACTH by nonpituitary tumor) or ACTH-independent (e.g., adrenocortical adenoma, adrenocortical carcinoma, nodular adrenal hyperplasia), as well as iatrogenic (e.g., administration of exogenous glucocorticoids to treat various inflammatory conditions). The term Cushing’s disease refers specifically to Cushing’s syndrome caused by a pituitary corticotrope adenoma.
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Cushing’s syndrome is generally considered a rare disease. It occurs with an incidence of 1–2 per 100,000 population per year. However, it is debated whether mild cortisol excess may be more prevalent among patients with several features of Cushing’s such as centripetal obesity, type 2 diabetes, and osteoporotic vertebral fractures, recognizing that these are relatively nonspecific and common in the population.
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In the overwhelming majority of patients, Cushing’s syndrome is caused by an ACTH-producing corticotrope adenoma of the pituitary (Table 8-1), as initially described by Harvey Cushing in 1912. Cushing’s disease more frequently affects women, with the exception of prepubertal cases, where it is more common in boys. By contrast, ectopic ACTH syndrome is more frequently identified in men. Only 10% of patients with Cushing’s syndrome have a primary, adrenal cause of their disease (e.g., autonomous cortisol excess independent of ACTH), and most of these patients are women. Overall, the medical use of glucocorticoids for immunosuppression, or for the treatment of inflammatory disorders, is the most common cause of Cushing’s syndrome.
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In at least 90% of patients with Cushing’s disease, ACTH excess is caused by a corticotrope pituitary microadenoma, often only a few millimeters in diameter. Pituitary macroadenomas (i.e., tumors >1 cm in size) are found in only 5–10% of patients. Pituitary corticotrope adenomas usually occur sporadically but very rarely can be found in the context of multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN 1) (Chap. 29).
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Ectopic ACTH production is predominantly caused by occult carcinoid tumors, most frequently in the lung, but also in thymus or pancreas. Because of their small size, these tumors are often difficult to locate. Advanced small-cell lung cancer can cause ectopic ACTH production. In rare cases, ectopic CRH and/or ACTH production has been found to originate from medullary thyroid carcinoma or pheochromocytoma, the latter co-secreting catecholamines and ACTH.
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The majority of patients with ACTH-independent cortisol excess harbor a cortisol-producing adrenal adenoma; intratumor mutations, i.e., somatic mutations in the PKA catalytic subunit PRKACA, have been identified as cause of disease in 40% of these tumors. Adrenocortical carcinomas may also cause ACTH-independent disease and are often large, with excess production of several corticosteroid classes.
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A rare but notable cause of adrenal cortisol excess is macronodular adrenal hyperplasia with low circulating ACTH, but with evidence for autocrine stimulation of cortisol production via intraadrenal ACTH production. These hyperplastic nodules are often also characterized by ectopic expression of G protein–coupled receptors not usually found in the adrenal, including receptors for luteinizing hormone, vasopressin, serotonin, interleukin 1, catecholamines, or gastric inhibitory peptide (GIP), the cause of food-dependent Cushing’s. Activation of these receptors results in upregulation of PKA signaling, as physiologically occurs with ACTH, with a subsequent increase in cortisol production. A combination of germline and somatic mutations in the tumor-suppressor gene ARMC5 have been identified as a prevalent cause of Cushing’s due to macronodular adrenal hyperplasia. Germline mutations in the PKA catalytic subunit PRKACA can represent a rare cause of macronodular adrenal hyperplasia associated with cortisol excess.
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Mutations in one of the regulatory subunits of PKA, PRKAR1A, are found in patients with primary pigmented nodular adrenal disease (PPNAD) as part of Carney’s complex, an autosomal dominant multiple neoplasia condition associated with cardiac myxomas, hyperlentiginosis, Sertoli cell tumors, and PPNAD. PPNAD can present as micronodular or macronodular hyperplasia, or both. Phosphodiesterases can influence intracellular cAMP and can thereby impact PKA activation. Mutations in PDE11A and PDE8B have been identified in patients with bilateral adrenal hyperplasia and Cushing’s, with and without evidence of PPNAD.
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Another rare cause of ACTH-independent Cushing’s is McCune-Albright syndrome, also associated with polyostotic fibrous dysplasia, unilateral café-au-lait spots, and precocious puberty. McCune-Albright syndrome is caused by activating mutations in the stimulatory G protein alpha subunit 1, GNAS-1 (guanine nucleotide binding protein alpha stimulating activity polypeptide 1), and such mutations have also been found in bilateral macronodular hyperplasia without other McCune-Albright features and, in rare instances, also in isolated cortisol-producing adrenal adenomas (Table 8-1; Chap. 36).
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Clinical manifestations
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Glucocorticoids affect almost all cells of the body, and thus signs of cortisol excess impact multiple physiologic systems (Table 8-2), with upregulation of gluconeogenesis, lipolysis, and protein catabolism causing the most prominent features. In addition, excess glucocorticoid secretion overcomes the ability of 11β-HSD2 to rapidly inactivate cortisol to cortisone in the kidney, thereby exerting mineralocorticoid actions, manifest as diastolic hypertension, hypokalemia, and edema. Excess glucocorticoids also interfere with central regulatory systems, leading to suppression of gonadotropins with subsequent hypogonadism and amenorrhea, and suppression of the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis, resulting in decreased thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) secretion.
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The majority of clinical signs and symptoms observed in Cushing’s syndrome are relatively nonspecific and include features such as obesity, diabetes, diastolic hypertension, hirsutism, and depression that are commonly found in patients who do not have Cushing’s. Therefore, careful clinical assessment is an important aspect of evaluating suspected cases. A diagnosis of Cushing’s should be considered when several clinical features are found in the same patient, in particular when more specific features are found. These include fragility of the skin, with easy bruising and broad (>1 cm), purplish striae (Fig. 8-9), and signs of proximal myopathy, which becomes most obvious when trying to stand up from a chair without the use of hands or when climbing stairs. Clinical manifestations of Cushing’s do not differ substantially among the different causes of Cushing’s. In ectopic ACTH syndrome, hyperpigmentation of the knuckles, scars, or skin areas exposed to increased friction can be observed (Fig. 8-9) and is caused by stimulatory effects of excess ACTH and other POMC cleavage products on melanocyte pigment production. Furthermore, patients with ectopic ACTH syndrome, and some with adrenocortical carcinoma as the cause of Cushing’s, may have a more brisk onset and rapid progression of clinical signs and symptoms.
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Patients with Cushing’s syndrome can be acutely endangered by deep vein thrombosis, with subsequent pulmonary embolism due to a hypercoagulable state associated with Cushing’s. The majority of patients also experience psychiatric symptoms, mostly in the form of anxiety or depression, but acute paranoid or depressive psychosis may also occur. Even after cure, long-term health may be affected by persistently impaired health-related quality of life and increased risk of cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis with vertebral fractures, depending on the duration and degree of exposure to significant cortisol excess.
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The most important first step in the management of patients with suspected Cushing’s syndrome is to establish the correct diagnosis. Most mistakes in clinical management, leading to unnecessary imaging or surgery, are made because the diagnostic protocol is not followed (Fig. 8-10). This protocol requires establishing the diagnosis of Cushing’s beyond doubt prior to employing any tests used for the differential diagnosis of the condition. In principle, after excluding exogenous glucocorticoid use as the cause of clinical signs and symptoms, suspected cases should be tested if there are multiple and progressive features of Cushing’s, particularly features with a potentially higher discriminatory value. Exclusion of Cushing’s is also indicated in patients with incidentally discovered adrenal masses.
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A diagnosis of Cushing’s can be considered as established if the results of several tests are consistently suggestive of Cushing’s. These tests may include increased 24-h urinary free cortisol excretion in three separate collections, failure to appropriately suppress morning cortisol after overnight exposure to dexamethasone, and evidence of loss of diurnal cortisol secretion with high levels at midnight, the time of the physiologically lowest secretion (Fig. 8-10). Factors potentially affecting the outcome of these diagnostic tests have to be excluded such as incomplete 24-h urine collection or rapid inactivation of dexamethasone due to concurrent intake of CYP3A4-inducing drugs (e.g., antiepileptics, rifampicin). Concurrent intake of oral contraceptives that raise CBG and thus total cortisol can cause failure to suppress after dexamethasone. If in doubt, testing should be repeated after 4–6 weeks off estrogens. Patients with pseudo-Cushing states, i.e., alcohol-related, and those with cyclic Cushing’s may require further testing to safely confirm or exclude the diagnosis of Cushing’s. In addition, the biochemical assays employed can affect the test results, with specificity representing a common problem with antibody-based assays for the measurement of urinary free cortisol. These assays have been greatly improved by the introduction of highly specific tandem mass spectrometry.
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Differential diagnosis
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The evaluation of patients with confirmed Cushing’s should be carried out by an endocrinologist and begins with the differential diagnosis of ACTH-dependent and ACTH-independent cortisol excess (Fig. 8-10). Generally, plasma ACTH levels are suppressed in cases of autonomous adrenal cortisol excess, as a consequence of enhanced negative feedback to the hypothalamus and pituitary. By contrast, patients with ACTH-dependent Cushing’s have normal or increased plasma ACTH, with very high levels being found in some patients with ectopic ACTH syndrome. Importantly, imaging should only be used after it is established whether the cortisol excess is ACTH-dependent or ACTH-independent, because nodules in the pituitary or the adrenal are a common finding in the general population. In patients with confirmed ACTH-independent excess, adrenal imaging is indicated (Fig. 8-11), preferably using an unenhanced computed tomography (CT) scan. This allows assessment of adrenal morphology and determination of precontrast tumor density in Hounsfield units (HU), which helps to distinguish between benign and malignant adrenal lesions.
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For ACTH-dependent cortisol excess (Chap. 5), a magnetic resonance image (MRI) of the pituitary is the investigation of choice, but it may not show an abnormality in up to 40% of cases because of small tumors below the sensitivity of detection. Characteristically, pituitary corticotrope adenomas fail to enhance following gadolinium administration on T1-weighted MRI images. In all cases of confirmed ACTH-dependent Cushing’s, further tests are required for the differential diagnosis of pituitary Cushing’s disease and ectopic ACTH syndrome. These tests exploit the fact that most pituitary corticotrope adenomas still display regulatory features, including residual ACTH suppression by high-dose glucocorticoids and CRH responsiveness. In contrast, ectopic sources of ACTH are typically resistant to dexamethasone suppression and unresponsive to CRH (Fig. 8-10). However, it should be noted that a small minority of ectopic ACTH-producing tumors exhibit dynamic responses similar to pituitary corticotrope tumors. If the two tests show discordant results, or if there is any other reason for doubt, the differential diagnosis can be further clarified by performing bilateral inferior petrosal sinus sampling (IPSS) with concurrent blood sampling for ACTH in the right and left inferior petrosal sinus and a peripheral vein. An increased central/peripheral plasma ACTH ratio >2 at baseline and >3 at 2–5 min after CRH injection is indicative of Cushing’s disease (Fig. 8-10), with very high sensitivity and specificity. Of note, the results of the IPSS cannot be reliably used for lateralization (i.e., prediction of the location of the tumor within the pituitary), because there is broad interindividual variability in the venous drainage of the pituitary region. Importantly, no cortisol-lowering agents should be used prior to IPSS.
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If the differential diagnostic testing indicates ectopic ACTH syndrome, then further imaging should include high-resolution, fine-cut CT scanning of the chest and abdomen for scrutiny of the lung, thymus, and pancreas. If no lesions are identified, an MRI of the chest can be considered because carcinoid tumors usually show high signal intensity on T2-weighted images. Furthermore, octreotide scintigraphy can be helpful in some cases because ectopic ACTH-producing tumors often express somatostatin receptors. Depending on the suspected cause, patients with ectopic ACTH syndrome should also undergo blood sampling for fasting gut hormones, chromogranin A, calcitonin, and biochemical exclusion of pheochromocytoma.
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TREATMENT Cushing’s Syndrome
Overt Cushing’s is associated with a poor prognosis if left untreated. In ACTH-independent disease, treatment consists of surgical removal of the adrenal tumor. For smaller tumors, a minimally invasive approach can be used, whereas for larger tumors and those suspected of malignancy, an open approach is preferred.
In Cushing’s disease, the treatment of choice is selective removal of the pituitary corticotrope tumor, usually via an endoscopic transsphenoidal approach. This results in an initial cure rate of 70–80% when performed by a highly experienced surgeon. However, even after initial remission following surgery, long-term follow-up is important because late relapse occurs in a significant number of patients. If pituitary disease recurs, there are several options, including second surgery, radiotherapy, stereotactic radiosurgery, and bilateral adrenalectomy. These options need to be applied in a highly individualized fashion.
In some patients with very severe, overt Cushing’s (e.g., difficult to control hypokalemic hypertension or acute psychosis), it may be necessary to introduce medical therapy to rapidly control the cortisol excess during the period leading up to surgery. Similarly, patients with metastasized, glucocorticoid-producing carcinomas may require long-term antiglucocorticoid drug treatment. In case of ectopic ACTH syndrome, in which the tumor cannot be located, one must carefully weigh whether drug treatment or bilateral adrenalectomy is the most appropriate choice, with the latter facilitating immediate cure but requiring life-long corticosteroid replacement. In this instance, it is paramount to ensure regular imaging follow-up for identification of the ectopic ACTH source.
Oral agents with established efficacy in Cushing’s syndrome are metyrapone and ketoconazole. Metyrapone inhibits cortisol synthesis at the level of 11β-hydroxylase (Fig. 8-1), whereas the antimycotic drug ketoconazole inhibits the early steps of steroidogenesis. Typical starting doses are 500 mg tid for metyrapone (maximum dose, 6 g) and 200 mg tid for ketoconazole (maximum dose, 1200 mg). Mitotane, a derivative of the insecticide o,p’DDD, is an adrenolytic agent that is also effective for reducing cortisol. Because of its side effect profile, it is most commonly used in the context of adrenocortical carcinoma, but low-dose treatment (500–1000 mg/d) has also been used in benign Cushing’s. In severe cases of cortisol excess, etomidate can be used to lower cortisol. It is administered by continuous IV infusion in low, nonanesthetic doses.
After the successful removal of an ACTH- or cortisol-producing tumor, the HPA axis will remain suppressed. Thus, hydrocortisone replacement needs to be initiated at the time of surgery and slowly tapered following recovery, to allow physiologic adaptation to normal cortisol levels. Depending on degree and duration of cortisol excess, the HPA axis may require many months or even years to resume normal function.