Cushing's disease

For the equine form of the disease, see Pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction.

Cushing's disease
Other namesCushing disease, tertiary or secondary hypercortisolism, tertiary or secondary hypercorticism, Itsenko-Cushing disease[1][2]
SpecialtyEndocrinology

Cushing's disease is one cause of Cushing's syndrome characterised by increased secretion of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) from the anterior pituitary (secondary hypercortisolism). This is most often as a result of a pituitary adenoma (specifically pituitary basophilism) or due to excess production of hypothalamus CRH (corticotropin releasing hormone) (tertiary hypercortisolism/hypercorticism) that stimulates the synthesis of cortisol by the adrenal glands. Pituitary adenomas are responsible for 80% of endogenous Cushing's syndrome,[3] when excluding Cushing's syndrome from exogenously administered corticosteroids. The equine version of this disease is Pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction.

This should not be confused with ectopic Cushing syndrome or exogenous steroid use.[4]

  1. ^ "Whonamedit – Nikolai Mikhailovich Itsenko". "Nikolai Mikhailovich Itsenko investigated neural infections, vegetative nervous system diseases and cerebral tumors. In 1926 he was the first one who described Itsenko-Cushing's disease, six years before Cushing."
  2. ^ A.I. Gozhenko; I.P. Gurkalova; W. Zukow; Z. Kwasnik; B. Mroczkowska (2009). "Trematoda". Pathology: Medical Student's Library. Radomska Szkola Wyžsza uk. Zubrzyckiego. p. 280. ISBN 978-83-61047-18-6.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference cushing's was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Ectopic Cushing syndrome — National Library of Medicine — PubMed Health". Archived from the original on October 2, 2013. Retrieved November 2, 2017.