MaryO

I used to carry a print out of this everywhere I go because I find it very soothing.  This print out was in a plastic page saver. On the other side there is a Psalm 116, part of the post from Day Nineteen of the 2015 Cushing’s Challenge.  These days, both these readings are available on my phone.

I first read this in Chicken Soup for the Surviving Soul and is posted several places online.

The Best Day Of My Life
by Gregory M Lousignont

Today, when I awoke, I suddenly realized that this is the best day of my life, ever! There were times when I wondered if I would make it to today; but I did! And because I did I’m going to celebrate!

Today, I’m going to celebrate what an unbelievable life I have had so far: the accomplishments, the many blessings, and, yes, even the hardships because they have served to make me stronger.

I will go through this day with my head held high, and a happy heart. I will marvel at God’s seemingly simple gifts: the morning dew, the sun, the clouds, the trees, the flowers, the birds. Today, none of these miraculous creations will escape my notice.

Today, I will share my excitement for life with other people. I’ll make someone smile. I’ll go out of my way to perform an unexpected act of kindness for someone I don’t even know.

Today, I’ll give a sincere compliment to someone who seems down. I’ll tell a child how special he is, and I’ll tell someone I love just how deeply I care for her and how much she means to me.

Today is the day I quit worrying about what I don’t have and start being grateful for all the wonderful things God has already given me.

I’ll remember that to worry is just a waste of time because my faith in God and his Divine Plan ensures everything will be just fine.

And tonight, before I go to bed, I’ll go outside and raise my eyes to the heavens. I will stand in awe at the beauty of the stars and the moon, and I will praise God for these magnificent treasures.

As the day ends and I lay my head down on my pillow, I will thank the Almighty for the best day of my life. And I will sleep the sleep of a contented child, excited with expectation because know tomorrow is going to be the best day of my life, ever!

When I’m feeling down, depressed or low, reading my 2 special pages can help me more than anything else.

The Carling Adrenal Center, a worldwide destination for the surgical treatment of adrenal tumors, becomes the first center to offer the use of amniotic membrane during adrenal surgery which saves functional adrenal tissue in patients undergoing adrenal surgery. This novel technique enables more patients to have a partial adrenalectomy thereby preserving some normal adrenal physiology, potentially eliminating life-long adrenal hormone replacement.

Preliminary clinical data from the Carling Adrenal Center suggest that the use of a human amniotic membrane allograph on the adrenal gland remnant following partial adrenal surgery leads to faster recovery of normal adrenal gland function. Rather than removing the entire adrenal gland—which has been standard of care for decades—a portion of the adrenal gland is able to be salvaged with amniotic membrane placed upon the remnant as a biologic covering. The preliminary data from an ongoing clinical trial shows this technique translates into fewer patients needing steroid hormone replacement following adrenal surgery, and if they do, it is for a significantly shorter period of time.

"Sometimes it is possible, and preferable, to remove the adrenal tumor without removing the entire adrenal gland. This is called partial adrenal surgery and our study shows this technique is more successful when amniotic membrane is used," said Dr. Carling. He further stresses that "removing only part of the adrenal gland is a more advanced operation and is typically only performed by expert adrenal surgeons. The goal is to leave some normal adrenal tissue so that the patient can avoid adrenal insufficiency which requires a daily dose of several adrenal hormones and steroids. Partial adrenal surgery is especially beneficial for patients with pheochromocytoma, as well as Conn's and Cushing's syndrome. Avoiding daily steroids is life-changing for these patients so this is a major breakthrough."

So how does it work? The increased viability of the adrenal gland remnant is presumed to be related to the release of growth factors known to be present in amniotic tissue which is in direct contact with the adrenal gland remnant as a covering. The results are improved rates of viable adrenal cortical tissues with faster regeneration and recovery to normal endocrine physiology by the adrenal cortical cells.

These findings come during Adrenal Disease Awareness Month. Adrenal gland diseases cause many debilitating symptoms like chronic headaches, anxiety, depression, fatigue, brain fog, memory loss, dangerously high blood pressure, heart arrythmia, weight gain, tremors, and more, yet they are often misdiagnosed or improperly treated. Since many doctors are inexperienced in the workup of adrenal hormone problems and only see a handful of adrenal tumors during their careers, it is important for patients to know about the symptoms of adrenal tumor disease and request their doctor measure adrenal hormones.

Adrenal.com is the leading resource for adrenal gland function, tumors and cancers, and an award-winning resource for adrenal gland surgery. The diagnosis and surgical treatment of all types of adrenal tumor types are discussed. Adrenal.com is edited by Dr. Tobias Carling who has performed more adrenal surgery than any other surgeon and has published some of the most important scientific studies of adrenal disease and adrenal surgery including the understanding of the pathogenesis of pheochromocytoma and adrenal tumors causing Conn's and Cushing's syndrome.

Established by Dr. Tobias Carling in 2020, the Carling Adrenal Center located at the Hospital for Endocrine Surgery in Tampa FL, is the highest volume adrenal surgical center in the world. The Center now averages nearly 20 adrenal tumor patients every week. Dr Carling was the Director of Endocrine Surgery at Yale University prior to opening the Center in Tampa. At the new Hospital for Endocrine Surgery, Dr Carling joins the Norman Parathyroid Center, the Clayman Thyroid Center and the Scarless Thyroid Surgery Center as the highest volume endocrine surgery center in the world.

About the Carling Adrenal Center: Founded by Dr. Tobias Carling, one of the world's leading experts in adrenal gland surgery, the Carling Adrenal Center is a worldwide destination for the surgical treatment of adrenal tumors. Dr. Carling spent nearly 20 years at Yale University, including 7 as the Chief of Endocrine Surgery before leaving in 2020 to open to Carling Adrenal Center, which performs more adrenal operations than any other hospital in the world. (813) 972-0000. More about partial adrenalectomy for adrenal tumors can be found at the Center's website www.adrenal.com.

From https://www.streetinsider.com/PRNewswire/Novel+application+of+amniotic+membrane+saves+adrenal+tissue+in+patients+undergoing+adrenal+surgery/19915274.html

Today’s Cushing’s Awareness Challenge post is about kidney cancer (renal cell carcinoma). You might wonder how in the world this is related to Cushing’s. I think it is, either directly or indirectly.

I alluded to this a couple days ago when I said:

I finally started the Growth Hormone December 7, 2004.
Was the hassle and 3 year wait worth it?
Stay tuned for tomorrow, April 15, 2016 when all will be revealed.

So, as I said, I started Growth Hormone for my panhypopituitarism on December 7, 2004.  I took it for a while but never really felt any better, no more energy, no weight loss.  Sigh.

April 14 2006 I went back to the endo and found out that the arginine test that was done in 2004 was done incorrectly. The directions were written unclearly and the test run incorrectly, not just for me but for everyone who had this test done there for a couple years. My endo discovered this when he was writing up a research paper and went to the lab to check on something.

So, I went off GH again for 2 weeks, then was retested. The “good news” was that the arginine test is only 90 minutes now instead of 3 hours.

Wow, what a nightmare my arginine retest started! I went back for that Thursday, April 27, 2006. Although the test was shorter, I got back to my hotel and just slept and slept. I was so glad that I hadn’t decided to go right home after the test.

Friday I felt fine and drove back home, no problem. I picked up my husband for a biopsy he was having and took him to an outpatient surgical center. While I was there waiting for the biopsy to be completed, I started noticing blood in my urine and major abdominal cramps.

There were signs all over that no cellphones were allowed so I sat in the restroom (I had to be in there a lot, anyway!) and I left messages for several of my doctors on what I should do. It was Friday afternoon and most of them were gone 🙁  I finally decided to see my PCP after I got my husband home.

When Tom was done with his testing, his doctor took one look at me and asked if I wanted an ambulance. I said no, that I thought I could make it to the emergency room ok – Tom couldn’t drive because of the anaesthetic they had given him. I barely made it to the ER and left the car with Tom to park. Tom’s doctor followed us to the ER and instantly became my new doctor.

They took me in pretty fast since I was in so much pain, and had the blood in my urine. At first, they thought it was a kidney stone. After a CT scan, my new doctor said that, yes, I had a kidney stone but it wasn’t the worst of my problems, that I had kidney cancer. Wow, what a surprise that was! I was admitted to that hospital, had more CT scans, MRIs, bone scans, they looked everywhere.

My new “instant doctor” felt that he wasn’t up to the challenge of my surgery, so he called in someone else.  My next new “instant doctor” came to see me in the ER in the middle of the night.  He patted my hand, like a loving grandfather might and said “At least you won’t have to do chemotherapy”.  And I felt so reassured.

It wasn’t until later, much after my surgery, that I found out that there was no chemo yet that worked for my cancer.  I was so thankful for the way he told me.  I would have really freaked out if he’d said that nothing they had was strong enough!

My open radical nephrectomy was May 9, 2006 in another hospital from the one where the initial diagnosis was made. My surgeon felt that he needed a specialist from that hospital because he believed preop that my tumor had invaded into the vena cava because of its appearance on the various scans. Luckily, that was not the case.

My entire left kidney and the encapsulated cancer (10 pounds worth!) were removed, along with my left adrenal gland and some lymph nodes. Although the cancer (renal cell carcinoma AKA RCC) was very close to hemorrhaging, the surgeon believed he got it all.

He said I was so lucky. If the surgery had been delayed any longer, the outcome would have been much different. I will be repeating the CT scans every 3 months, just to be sure that there is no cancer hiding anywhere. As it turns out, I can never say I’m cured, just NED (no evidence of disease). This thing can recur at any time, anywhere in my body.

I credit the arginine re-test with somehow aggravating my kidneys and revealing this cancer. Before the test, I had no clue that there was any problem. The arginine test showed that my IGF is still low but due to the kidney cancer I couldn’t take my growth hormone for another 5 years – so the test was useless anyway, except to hasten this newest diagnosis.

So… either Growth Hormone helped my cancer grow or testing for it revealed a cancer I might not have learned about until later.

My five years are up now.  When I was 10 years free of this cancer my kidney surgeon *thought* it would be ok to try the growth hormone again.  I was a little leery about this, especially where I didn’t notice that much improvement.

What to do?

BTW, I decided to…

Way back when we first got married, my husband thought we might have a big family with a lot of kids.  He was from a family of 6 siblings, so that’s what he was accustomed to.  I am an only child so I wasn’t sure about having so many.

I needn’t have worried.

In January 1974 I had a miscarriage.  I was devastated. My father revealed that my mother had also had a miscarriage.  I had no idea.

At some point later I tried fertility drugs.  Clomid and another drug.  One or both drugs made me very angry/depressed/bitchy (one dwarf I left off the image)  Little did I know that these meds were a waste of time.

Eventually,  I did get pregnant and our wonderful son, Michael was born.  It wasn’t until he was seven that I was finally, actually diagnosed with Cushing’s.

When I had my early Cushing’s symptoms, I thought I was pregnant again but it was not to be.

I’ll never forget the fall when he was in second grade.  He was leaving for school and I said goodbye to him.  I knew I was going into NIH that day for at least 6 weeks and my future was very iffy.  The night before, I had signed my will – just in case.  He just turned and headed off with his friends…and I felt a little betrayed.

Michael wrote this paper on Cushing’s when he was in the 7th grade. From the quality of the pages, he typed this on typing paper – no computers yet!

Click on each page to enlarge.

http://cushieblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/michael-1.jpg?w=150&h=150&resize=150%2C150

http://cushieblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/michael2.jpg?w=150&h=150&resize=150%2C150

When Michael started having headache issues in middle school, I had him tested for Cushing’s.  I had no idea yet if it could be familial but I wasn’t taking any chances.  It turned out that my father had also had some unnamed endocrine issues.  Hmmm…

I survived my time and surgery at NIH and Michael grew up to be a wonderful young man, if an only child.  🙂

http://cushieblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/michael-belize.jpg?w=300&h=225&resize=300%2C225After I survived kidney cancer (Day Twelve, Cushing’s Awareness Challenge 2015) Michael and I went zip-lining – a goal of mine after surviving that surgery.  This photo was taken in a treetop restaurant in Belize.

For the mathematically inclined, this is his blog.  Xor’s Hammer.  I understand none of it.  He also has a page of Math and Music, which I also don’t understand.

I know it doesn’t fit into a Cushing’s awareness post but just because I’m a very proud mama – Michael got a PhD in math from Cornell and his thesis was Using Tree Automata to Investigate Intuitionistic Propositional Logic

Michael explains How do we know the quintic is unsolvable?

And, from his wedding:

And, as of March 7, 2021:

In March of 1987, after the endo finally confirmed that I had Cushing’s, I was sent to a local hospital where they repeated all those same tests for another week and decided that it was not my adrenal gland (Cushing’s Syndrome) creating the problem. The doctors and nurses had no idea what to do with me, so they put me on the brain cancer ward.

When I left this hospital after a week, we didn’t know any more than we had before.

As luck would have it, NIH (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland) was doing a clinical trial of Cushing’s. I live in the same area as NIH so it was not too inconvenient but very scary at first to think of being tested there. At that time I only had a choice of NIH, Mayo Clinic and a place in Quebec to do this then-rare pituitary surgery called a Transsphenoidal Resection.

My husband asked my endo if it were his wife, if he would recommend this surgery.  The endo responded that he was divorcing his wife – he didn’t care what happened to her.  Oh, my!

I chose NIH – closest and free. After I was interviewed by the doctors there, I got a letter that I had been accepted into the clinical trial.

The night before I was admitted, I signed my will.  I was sure I was going to die there.  If not during testing, as a result of surgery.

The first time I was there was for 6 weeks as an inpatient. More of the same tests.

There were about 12 of us there and it was nice not to be alone with this mystery disease. Many of these Cushies (mostly women) were getting bald, couldn’t walk, having strokes, had diabetes. One was blind, one had a heart attack while I was there. Several were from Greece.

My first roommate was a nurse.  She spent the entire first night screaming in pain.  I was very glad when they moved me to a new room!

Towards the end of my testing period, I was looking forward to the surgery just to get this whole mess over with – either a cure or dying. While I was at NIH, I was gaining about a pound a day!

During the time I was home the weekend  before surgery, a college classmate of mine (I didn’t know her) DID die at NIH of a Cushing’s-related problem. I’m so glad I didn’t find out until reading the alumnae magazine a couple months later!  She was the same class, same major, same home-town, same disease…

We have a Scottish doctor named James Lind to thank for the clinical trial.  He  conducted the first ever clinical trial in 1747 and developed the theory that citrus fruits cured scurvy.  Lind  compared the effects of various different acidic substances, ranging from vinegar to cider, on groups of afflicted sailors, and found that the group who were given oranges and lemons had largely recovered from scurvy after 6 days.

I’d like to think that I advanced the knowledge of Cushing’s at least a little bit by being a guinea  pig in 1987-1989.

From the NIH: http://endocrine.niddk.nih.gov/pubs/cushings/cushings.aspx

Hope through Research

Several components of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) conduct and support research on Cushing’s syndrome and other disorders of the endocrine system, including the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the National Cancer Institute, and the National Center for Research Resources.

NIH-supported scientists are conducting intensive research into the normal and abnormal function of the major endocrine glands and the many hormones of the endocrine system. Researchers continue to study the effects of excess cortisol, including its effect on brain structure and function. To refine the diagnostic process, studies are under way to assess the accuracy of existing screening tests and the effectiveness of new imaging techniques to evaluate patients with ectopic ACTH syndrome. Researchers are also investigating jugular vein sampling as a less invasive alternative to petrosal sinus sampling. Research into treatment options includes study of a new drug to treat the symptoms of Cushing’s syndrome caused by ectopic ACTH secretion.

Studies are under way to understand the causes of benign endocrine tumor formation, such as those that cause most cases of Cushing’s syndrome. In a few pituitary adenomas, specific gene defects have been identified and may provide important clues to understanding tumor formation. Endocrine factors may also play a role. Increasing evidence suggests that tumor formation is a multistep process. Understanding the basis of Cushing’s syndrome will yield new approaches to therapy.

The NIH supports research related to Cushing’s syndrome at medical centers throughout the United States. Scientists are also treating patients with Cushing’s syndrome at the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, MD. Physicians who are interested in referring an adult patient may contact Lynnette Nieman, M.D., at NICHD, 10 Center Drive, Room 1-3140, Bethesda, MD 20892-1109, or by phone at 301-496-8935. Physicians interested in referring a child or adolescent may contact Constantine Stratakis, M.D., D.Sc., at NICHD, 10 Center Drive, Room 1-3330, Bethesda, MD 20892-1103, or by phone at 301-402-1998.

Blue and Yellow – we have those colors on ribbons, websites, T-shirts, Cushing’s Awareness Challenge logos and even cars.

This is the yellow PT cruiser I had rented for the Columbus, OH meeting in 2007.  I didn’t ask for yellow.  That’s just what the rental company gave me.  Somehow, they knew.

This meeting is the one when we all met at Hoggy’s for dinner although some of us travelers stayed at this hotel.

I’m the one in yellow and blue.

Later in 2007, I bought my own truly Cushie Car.  I even managed to get a butterfly on the tags.

http://cushieblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/cushie-car1.jpg?w=1428&resize=468%2C351

So, where did all this blue and yellow come from, anyway?  The answer is so easy and without any thought that it will amaze you!

In July of 2000, I was talking with my dear friend Alice, who ran a wonderful menopause site, Power Surge.  We wondering why there weren’t many support groups online (OR off!) for Cushing’s and I wondered if I could start one myself and we decided that maybe I could.

This website (http://www.cushings-help.com) first went “live” July 21, 2000.  It was a one-page bit of information about Cushing’s.  Nothing fancy.  No message boards, no blogs, no wiki, no image galleries…  Certainly no Cushing’s Awareness Challenges.

I didn’t know much about HTML (yet!) but I knew a little from what Alice had taught me and I used on my music studio site.  I didn’t want to put as much work <COUGH!> into the Cushing’s site as I had on the music studio site so I used a now defunct  WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) web editor called Microsoft FrontPage.

One of their standard templates was – you guessed it! – blue and yellow.

TaDa!  Instant Cushie color scheme forever.  Turns out that the HTML that this software churned out was really awful and had to be entirely redone as the site grew.  But the colors stuck.

Now, in this day of mobile web browsers and people going online on their cellphones, the website is being redone yet again.  But the colors are still, and always, blue and yellow.

Richard M. Plotzker, MD

Although adrenal insufficiency is uncommon, it is not so infrequent that we never encounter patients who have it. The sometimes-tricky presentations, along with the glorious responses to therapy, provide many endocrinologists with a blend of fascination and professional gratification. We think of the condition as a possibility more often than we find the real thing, doing cosyntropin tests that yield normal results for a variety of presentations, from critical illness to hyponatremia. We inherit people with panhypopituitarism and figure it out ourselves when an adult survivor of cancer who received central nervous system radiation years ago begins to gradually underperform.

Despite our fascination with the condition and the frequent challenge of figuring out a clinical puzzle, few of us see more than a few dozen of these individuals, each unique in glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid replacement requirements, and often without reliable laboratory tracking of our therapeutic judgments. These people have a way of generating calls to our offices, either from their own setbacks or emergency department (ED) doctors and surgeons who are skittish about elective outpatient surgery. But despite the central role of the endocrinologist in ongoing care, we have surprisingly little data on how these patients fare over time as they navigate the increasingly baffling maze of medical care of chronic diseases. Until now.

A group in Alberta, Canada, performed a review of medical encounters among patients with primary or secondary adrenal insufficiency over a 5-year interval. An accumulation of data from a few central locations combined with computerized sorting capabilities has enabled better exploration of relatively rare conditions like adrenal insufficiency, which, when pooled, exposes common paths this condition takes. We sense from our phone calls that these people need emergency care, but the frequency of setbacks varies from never to a lot. Thus, large clinical databases have made health planning less laborious and more reliable but, as this study reveals, not exactly glitch-free.

In Alberta, each person is assigned a personal identification number (PIN) that remains constant for all physician and pharmacy encounters. This allowed the research group to match diagnostic codes for primary and secondary adrenal insufficiency, and to capture individuals receiving multiple refills of glucocorticoids and mineralocorticoids. Because there were three active databases, however, some encounters appeared in multiple places, which the authors corrected to avoid overcounting.

They found 2637 unique individuals seeking outpatient or ED care who had a coding diagnosis of primary or secondary adrenal insufficiency. An estimated prevalence of 839 per million Alberta residents exceeded the frequency of other national or regional estimates.

The limitations of teasing out the realities of medical care from administrative codes may be best illustrated by the researchers' attempts to sort out how much medical care these people received and for what purpose. On average, the claims and encounter data show 2.2 ED visits and 17.8 outpatient visits per person with adrenal insufficiency. However, the diagnostic codes show that only a small fraction of these have an adrenal or pituitary diagnostic code for most episodes of medical care. The inclusion of physical therapy and radiologic procedures as outpatient visits makes it difficult to assess how the adrenal insufficiency affected other elements of health.

The ED visits may be more revealing. Adrenal or pituitary codes rarely appeared as the primary diagnosis; however, among the top 10 were abdominal pain, volume depletion, electrolyte disorders, chest pain, and abscesses, often the sequelae of either adrenal insufficiency or its treatment. The authors determined who the patients were by their PINs and got some sense of what happened to them by tabulating the complications that resulted in emergency care. Unfortunately, the top 10 primary ED codes comprised only a small fraction of the 2699 different diagnostic codes submitted, so it remains unclear how much ED attention was directly or indirectly a consequence of hypoadrenalism, only that these patients seek emergency care considerably more frequently than others in Alberta.

This analysis of administrative data confirms what most clinicians providing longitudinal care to these patients already suspected: they need more than average amounts of physician attention and they sometimes need rescue from crises unique to adrenal impairment. However, as we depend more and more on large amounts of aggregated data to isolate specific conditions and assess the treatment history, this study also exposes some of the limitations of how we code, classify, sort, and retrieve these patient encounters. Even data that should be binary, such as you went to the doctor or you didn't, have a way of slipping through the cracks, as not all medical visits in Alberta needed to be centrally reported.

As much as physicians, myself among them, dislike our secondary roles as coding clerks, the defaults permitted, including "follow-up visit," often give no medical information yet are sufficient for payment. Having 2699 unique ED visit diagnoses impedes sorting them into the manageable categories we depend on as clinicians to understand diseases and as planners to assess public needs. Even things as basic as why the adrenals or pituitary failed, whether by immune, surgical, trauma, or medication (including opiate use) causes, are not adequately captured for later assessment.

Big Data and the ability to access it has expanded our capabilities but, as this study demonstrates, more can be done to make it reveal to clinicians and planners what we most need to know. How many people with other uncommon but threatening diseases still drift in and out of our exam rooms and EDs, controlled by the appropriate specialist but shared with many others? It looks like we can figure out from administrative data more than we knew before but less than we would seek to find out.

From https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/971618

This is one of the suggestions from the Cushing’s Awareness Challenge post:

What have you learned about the medical community since you have become sick?

This one is so easy. I’ve said it a thousand times – you know your own body better than any doctor will. Most doctors have never seen a Cushing’s patient, few ever will in the future.

If you believe you have Cushing’s (or any other rare disease), learn what you can about it, connect with other patients, make a timeline of symptoms and photographs. Read, take notes, save all your doctors’ notes, keep your lab findings, get second/third/ten or more opinions.  Make a calendar showing which days you had what symptoms.  Google calendars are great for this.

This is your life, your one and only shot (no pun intended!) at it. Make it the best and healthiest that you can.

When my friend and fellow e-patient Dave deBronkart learned he had a rare and terminal kidney cancer, he turned to a group of fellow patients online and found a medical treatment that even his own doctors didn’t know. It saved his life.

In this video, he calls on all patients to talk with one another, know their own health data, and make health care better one e-Patient at a time.

More than three-quarters of adults with Cushing’s disease assigned osilodrostat had a normalized mean urinary free cortisol level at 12 weeks and maintained a normal level at 36 weeks, according to data from the LINC 4 phase 3 trial.

In findings published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 77% of adults with Cushing’s disease randomly assigned to osilodrostat (Isturisa, Recordati) had mean urinary free cortisol (UFC) levels reduced to below the upper limit of normal at 12 weeks compared with 8% of adults assigned to placebo.

“Osilodrostat is a highly effective treatment for Cushing’s disease, normalizing urinary free cortisol excretion in 77% of patients after 12 weeks’ treatment,” Mônica Gadelha, MD, professor of endocrinology at The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, and colleagues wrote. “Cortisol reductions were maintained throughout 48 weeks of treatment and were accompanied by improvements in clinical signs of hypercortisolism and quality of life.”

Gadelha and colleagues enrolled 73 adults aged 18 to 75 years with Cushing’s disease from 40 centers in 14 countries into the LINC 4 phase 3 trial. Participants were randomly assigned to 2 mg osilodrostat twice daily (n = 48) or placebo (n = 25) for 12 weeks. Urinary samples were collected at weeks 2, 5 and 8 to measure mean UFC, and dosage was adjusted based on efficacy and tolerability. After 12 weeks, participants from both groups received osilodrostat in a 36-week open-label treatment period. All participants restarted the open-label portion of the trial at 2 mg osilodrostat unless they were on a lower dose at week 12. Dose adjustments in the open-label phase were made using the same guidelines in the randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. The primary endpoint was the efficacy of osilodrostat at achieving a mean UFC below the upper limit of normal of 138 nmol per 24 hours at 12 weeks vs. placebo; the key secondary endpoint was the percentage of participants achieving a normal mean UFC at 36 weeks.

At 12 weeks, the percentage of adults with a normalized mean UFC level was higher in the osilodrostat group compared with placebo (77.1% vs. 8%; P < .0001).

At 36 weeks, 80.8% of all participants had a normal mean UFC level. The overall response rate was 79.5% at 48 weeks.

Median time to first controlled mean UFC response was 35 days for those randomly assigned to osilodrostat as well as those randomly assigned to placebo who crossed over to osilodrostat for the open-label phase. At 48 weeks, 84% of participants were receiving 10 mg or less of osilodrostat per day, including 56% receiving 4 mg or less daily.

At 12 weeks, the osilodrostat group had several cardiovascular and metabolic-related improvements, including systolic and diastolic blood pressure, HbA1c, HDL cholesterol, body weight and waist circumference. No changes were observed in the placebo group.

“The improvements in cardiovascular and metabolic parameters were sustained throughout osilodrostat treatment and have the potential to alleviate the burden of comorbidities in many patients with Cushing’s disease,” the researchers wrote.

At 12 weeks, 52.5% of those receiving osilodrostat had a reduction in supraclavicular fat pad and 50% had a reduction in dorsal fat pad. At least 25% of participants also had improvements in facial redness, striae, proximal muscle atrophy and central obesity. Improvements were sustained through week 48.

During the placebo-controlled trial, grade 3 and 4 adverse events occurred for about 20% of participants in both groups. For the entire study, 38.4% of adults reported grade 3 and 4 adverse events, with the most common being hypertension. Eight participants discontinued the study due to adverse events.

From https://www.healio.com/news/endocrinology/20220408/osilodrostat-normalizes-urinary-free-cortisol-in-most-adults-with-cushings-disease

Uh, Oh – I’m nearly a day late (and a dollar short?)…and I’m not yet sure what today’s topic will be.  I seem swamped by everything lately, waking up tired, napping, going to bed tired, waking up in the middle of the night, starting all over again…and the coronavirus which makes everything more hectic, stressful and tiring.

It’s been like this since I was being diagnosed with Cushing’s in the mid-1980’s.  You’d think things would be improved in the last 33 years.  But, no.

My mind wants things to have improved, so I’ve taken on more challenges, and my DH has provided some for me (see one of my other blogs, MaryOMedical).

Thank goodness, I have only part-time jobs (4 0f them!), that I can mostly do from home.  I don’t know how anyone post-Cushing’s could manage a full-time job!

I can see this post morphing into the topic “My Dream Day“…

I’d wake up refreshed and really awake at about 7:00AM and take the dog out for a brisk run.

Get home about 8:00AM and start on my website work.

Later in the morning, I’d get some bills paid – and there would be enough money to do so!

After lunch, out with the dog again, then practice the piano some, read a bit, finish up the website work, teach a few piano students, work on my church job, then dinner.

After dinner, check email, out with the dog, maybe handbell or choir practice, a bit of TV, then bed about 10PM

Nothing fancy but NO NAPS.  Work would be getting done, time for hobbies, the dog, 3 healthy meals.

Just a normal life that so many take for granted. Or, do they?

It’s Here!

Dr. Cushing was born in Cleveland Ohio. The fourth generation in his family to become a physician, he showed great promise at Harvard Medical School and in his residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital (1896 to 1900), where he learned cerebral surgery under William S. Halsted

After studying a year in Europe, he introduced the blood pressure sphygmomanometer to the U.S.A. He began a surgical practice in Baltimore while teaching at Johns Hopkins Hospital (1901 to 1911), and gained a national reputation for operations such as the removal of brain tumors. From 1912 until 1932 he was a professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School and surgeon in chief at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, with time off during World War I to perform surgery for the U.S. forces in France; out of this experience came his major paper on wartime brain injuries (1918). In addition to his pioneering work in performing and teaching brain surgery, he was the reigning expert on the pituitary gland since his 1912 publication on the subject; later he discovered the condition of the pituitary now known as “Cushing’s disease“.

Read more about Dr. Cushing

Today, April 8th, is Cushing’s Awareness Day. Please wear your Cushing’s ribbons, t-shirts, awareness bracelets or Cushing’s colors (blue and yellow) and hand out Robin’s wonderful Awareness Cards to get a discussion going with anyone who will listen.

And don’t just raise awareness on April 8.  Any day is a good day to raise awareness.

I found this biography fascinating!

I found Dr. Cushing’s life to be most interesting. I had previously known of him mainly because his name is associated with a disease I had – Cushing’s. This book doesn’t talk nearly enough about how he came to discover the causes of Cushing’s disease, but I found it to be a valuable resource, anyway.
I was so surprised to learn of all the “firsts” Dr. Cushing brought to medicine and the improvements that came about because of him. Dr. Cushing introduced the blood pressure sphygmomanometer to America, and was a pioneer in the use of X-rays.

He even won a Pulitzer Prize. Not for medicine, but for writing the biography of another Doctor (Sir William Osler).

Before his day, nearly all brain tumor patients died. He was able to get the number down to only 5%, unheard of in the early 1900s.

This is a very good book to read if you want to learn more about this most interesting, influential and innovative brain surgeon.

What Would Harvey Say?

http://cushieblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/harvey-book.jpeg?resize=183%2C276

(BPT) – More than 80 years ago renowned neurosurgeon, Dr. Harvey Cushing, discovered a tumor on the pituitary gland as the cause of a serious, hormone disorder that leads to dramatic physical changes in the body in addition to life-threatening health concerns. The discovery was so profound it came to be known as Cushing’s disease. While much has been learned about Cushing’s disease since the 1930s, awareness of this rare pituitary condition is still low and people often struggle for years before finding the right diagnosis.

Read on to meet the man behind the discovery and get his perspective on the present state of Cushing’s disease.

* What would Harvey Cushing say about the time it takes for people with Cushing’s disease to receive an accurate diagnosis?

Cushing’s disease still takes too long to diagnose!

Despite advances in modern technology, the time to diagnosis for a person with Cushing’s disease is on average six years. This is partly due to the fact that symptoms, which may include facial rounding, thin skin and easy bruising, excess body and facial hair and central obesity, can be easily mistaken for other conditions. Further awareness of the disease is needed as early diagnosis has the potential to lead to a more favorable outcome for people with the condition.

* What would Harvey Cushing say about the advances made in how the disease is diagnosed?

Significant progress has been made as several options are now available for physicians to use in diagnosing Cushing’s disease.

In addition to routine blood work and urine testing, health care professionals are now also able to test for biochemical markers – molecules that are found in certain parts of the body including blood and urine and can help to identify the presence of a disease or condition.

* What would Harvey Cushing say about disease management for those with Cushing’s disease today?

Patients now have choices but more research is still needed.

There are a variety of disease management options for those living with Cushing’s disease today. The first line and most common management approach for Cushing’s disease is the surgical removal of the tumor. However, there are other management options, such as medication and radiation that may be considered for patients when surgery is not appropriate or effective.

* What would Harvey Cushing say about the importance of ongoing monitoring in patients with Cushing’s disease?

Routine check-ups and ongoing monitoring are key to successfully managing Cushing’s disease.

The same tests used in diagnosing Cushing’s disease, along with imaging tests and clinical suspicion, are used to assess patients’ hormone levels and monitor for signs and symptoms of a relapse. Unfortunately, more than a third of patients experience a relapse in the condition so even patients who have been surgically treated require careful long-term follow up.

* What would Harvey Cushing say about Cushing’s disease patient care?

Cushing’s disease is complex and the best approach for patients is a multidisciplinary team of health care professionals working together guiding patient care.

Whereas years ago patients may have only worked with a neurosurgeon, today patients are typically treated by a variety of health care professionals including endocrinologists, neurologists, radiologists, mental health professionals and nurses. We are much more aware of the psychosocial impact of Cushing’s disease and patients now have access to mental health professionals, literature, patient advocacy groups and support groups to help them manage the emotional aspects of the disease.

Learn More

Novartis is committed to helping transform the care of rare pituitary conditions and bringing meaningful solutions to people living with Cushing’s disease. Recognizing the need for increased awareness, Novartis developed the “What Would Harvey Cushing Say?” educational initiative that provides hypothetical responses from Dr. Cushing about various aspects of Cushing’s disease management based on the Endocrine Society’s Clinical Guidelines.

For more information about Cushing’s disease, visit www.CushingsDisease.com or watch educational Cushing’s disease videos on the Novartis YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/Novartis.

From http://www.jsonline.com/sponsoredarticles/health-wellness/what-would-harvey-cushing-say-about-cushings-disease-today8087390508-253383751.html

The above is the official Cushing’s path to a diagnosis but here’s how it seems to be in real life:

http://cushieblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/cushie-diagnosis.gif?resize=500%2C500

Egads!  I remember the naive, simple days when I thought I’d give them a tube or two of blood and they’d tell me I had Cushing’s for sure.

Who knew that diagnosing Cushing’s would be years of testing, weeks of collecting every drop of urine, countless blood tests, many CT and MRI scans…

Then going to NIH, repeating all the above over 6 weeks inpatient plus an IPSS test, apheresis (this was experimental at NIH) and specialty blood tests…

The path to a Cushing’s diagnosis is a long and arduous one but you have to stick with it if you believe you have this Syndrome.

In Day 9 on April 9, 2015, I wrote about how we got the Cushing’s colors of blue and yellow.  This post is going to be about the first Cushing’s ribbons.

http://cushieblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/janice-ribbon.jpg?w=500

I was on vacation  in September, 2001 when SuziQ called me to let me know that we had had our first Cushie casualty (that we knew about).

On the message boards, Lorrie wrote: Our dear friend, Janice died this past Tuesday, September 4, 2001. I received an IM from her best friend Janine, tonight. Janine had been reading the boards, as Janice had told her about this site, and she came upon my name and decided to IM me. I am grateful that she did. She said that she knew that Janice would want all of us to know that she didn’t just stop posting.

For all of the newcomers to the board that did not know Janice, she was a very caring individual. She always had something positive to say. Janice was 36 years old, was married and had no children. She had a miscarriage in December and began to have symptoms of Cushing’s during that pregnancy. After the pregnancy, she continued to have symptoms. When discussing this with her doctor, she was told that her symptoms were just related to her D&C. She did not buy this and continued until she received the accurate diagnosis of Cushing’s Syndrome (adrenal) in March of 2001. Tragically, Janice’s tumor was cancerous, a very rare form of Cushing’s.

Janice then had her tumor and adrenal gland removed by open adrenalectomy, a few months ago. She then began chemotherapy. She was very brave through this even though she experienced severe side effects, including weakness and dizziness. She continued to post on this board at times and even though she was going through so much, she continued with a positive attitude. She even gave me a referral to a doctor a few weeks ago. She was my inspiration. Whenever I thought I had it bad, I thought of what she was dealing with, and I gained more perspective.

Janice was having difficulty with low potassium levels and difficulty breathing. She was admitted to the hospital, a CT scan was done and showed tumor metastasis to the lungs. She then was begun on a more aggressive regimen of chemo. She was discharged and apparently seemed to be doing well.

The potassium then began to drop again, she spiked a temp and she was again admitted to the hospital. She improved and was set to be discharged and then she threw a blood clot into her lungs. She was required to be put on a ventilator. She apparently was at high risk for a heart attack. Her husband did not want her to suffer anymore and did not want her to suffer the pain of a heart attack and so chose for the doctors to discontinue the ventilator on Tuesday. She died shortly thereafter.

Janice was our friend. She was a Cushie sister. I will always remember her. Janine asked me to let her know when we get the Cushing’s ribbons made as she and the rest of Janice’s family would like to wear them in her memory. She said that Janice would want to do anything she could to make others more aware of Cushing’s.

The image at the top of the page shows the first blue and yellow ribbon which were worn at Janice’s funeral.  When we had our “official ribbons” made, we sent several to Janice’s family.

Janice was the first of us to die but there have been more, way too many more, over the years.  I’ll write a bit more about that on Day 21.

This is one of the suggestions from the Cushing’s Awareness Challenge post:

“Give yourself, your condition, or your health focus a mascot. Is it a real person? Fictional? Mythical being? Describe them. Bonus points if you provide a visual!”

Our “Official mascot” is the zebra.

In med school, student doctors are told “When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras“.

According to Wikipedia: “Zebra is a medical slang term for a surprising diagnosis. Although rare diseases are, in general, surprising when they are encountered, other diseases can be surprising in a particular person and time, and so “zebra” is the broader concept.

The term derives from the aphorism ‘When you hear hoofbeats behind you, don’t expect to see a zebra’, which was coined in a slightly modified form in the late 1940s by Dr. Theodore Woodward, a former professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore.  Since horses are the most commonly encountered hoofed animal and zebras are very rare, logically you could confidently guess that the animal making the hoofbeats is probably a horse.

By 1960, the aphorism was widely known in medical circles.”

Why? Because those of us who DO have a rare disorder know from personal experience what it feels like to be dismissed by a doctor or in many cases, multiple doctors. Many physicians have completely lost the ability to even imagine that zebras may exist!  Cushing’s is too rare – you couldn’t possible have that.  Well… rare means some people get it.  Why couldn’t it be me?

Although one of my signature images has a zebra, many have rainbows or butterflies in them so I guess that I consider those my own personal mascots.

I posted this in 2010 in 40 Days of Thankfulness: Days Twenty-Two through Thirty

I have a special affinity for rainbows. To me, a rainbow is a sign that things are going to be ok.

Years ago, our little family was in Florida. I felt guilty about going because my dad was terminally ill with his second bout of colon cancer. I was worried about him and said a little prayer for him.

I was lying on the beach while DH and our son were in the ocean and I looked up and saw a rainbow. It was a perfectly clear, sunny afternoon. I even called the people out of the water, in case it was something I wanted to see that didn’t really exist. They saw it, too.

Where in the world did that rainbow come from, if it wasn’t a sign that everything would be ok?

Butterflies are something else again.  I like them because I would like to think that my life has evolved like a butterfly’s, from something ugly and unattractive to something a big easier on the eye.

My Cushie self was the caterpillar, post-op is more butterfly-ish, if not in looks, in good deeds.

From July, 2008

For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved butterflies for their beauty and what they stood for. I’ve always wanted to shed my cocoon and become someone else, someone beautiful, graceful.

One of my first memories as a kid was knocking on the back door of my house and when my mom answered, I’d pretend to somehow be an orphan, looking for some kind person to take me in. And I would try to be that different child, with new habits, in the hopes that my parents would somehow think better of me, love me more as this poor homeless kid than they did as their own.

The butterfly was trying to emerge but it never got too far. Somehow, I would slip into my original self and be a bother to my parents.

Hope springs eternal, though!

Sleep.  Naps.  Fatigue, Exhaustion.  I still have them all.  I wrote on my bio in 1987 after my pituitary surgery “I am still and always tired and need a nap most days. I do not, however, still need to take whole days off just to sleep.”

That seems to be changing back, at least on the weekends.  A recent weekend, both days, I took 7-hour naps each day and I still woke up tired. That’s awfully close to taking a whole day off to sleep again.

In 2006, I flew to Chicago, IL for a Cushing’s weekend in Rockford.  Someone else drove us to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin for the day.  Too much travel, too Cushie, whatever, I was too tired to stay awake.  I actually had put my head down on the dining room table and fallen asleep but our hostess suggested the sofa instead.  Amazing that I traveled that whole distance – and missed the main event 🙁

This sleeping thing really impacts my life.  Between piano lessons, I take a nap.  I sleep as late as possible in the mornings and afternoons are pretty much taken up by naps.  I nod off at night during TV. One time I came home between church services and missed the third service because I fell asleep.

I only TiVo old tv shows that I can watch and fall asleep to since I already know the ending.

A few years ago I was doing physical therapy twice a week for 2 hours at a time for a knee injury (read more about that in Bees Knees).  I come home from that exhausted – and in more pain than when I went.  I knew it was working and my knee got better for a while, but it’s such a time and energy sapper.  Neither of which I can really spare.

Maybe now that I’m nearly 15  years out from my kidney cancer (May 9, 2006) I’ve been back on Growth Hormone again.  My surgeon says he “thought” it’s ok.  I was sort of afraid to ask my endo about it, though but he gave me the go-ahead.  I want to feel better and get the benefits of the GH again but I don’t want any type of cancer again and I certainly can’t afford to lose another kidney.

I always laugh when I see that commercial online for something called Serovital.  I saw it in Costco the other day and it mentions pituitary right on the package.  I wish I could take the people buying this, sit them down and tell them not to mess with their pituitary glands.  But I won’t.  I’ll take a nap instead because I’m feeling so old and weary today, and yesterday.

Eventually, I did restart the GH, this time Omnitrope.

And tomorrow…

So, these are only seven of the many, many symptoms of Cushing’s.  I had those above – and I often felt like I looked like one of those little bearded dwarves.

Cushing’s affects every part of the body.  It’s not like when I had kidney cancer and only the kidney was affected.

Here are some of the many areas affected.

• Progressive obesity and skin changes
• Weight gain and fatty tissue deposits, particularly around the midsection and upper back, in the face (moon face) and between the shoulders (buffalo hump). Some symptoms such as sudden weight gain, are caused by excess cortisol. The excess cortisol in the body does not increase protein and carbohydrate metabolism. It slows or nearly disables metabolism function, which can cause weight gain (fat accumulation) in the buttocks, abdomen, cheeks, neck, or upper back.
• Loss of muscle mass. Some areas of the body, such as the arms and legs, will remain thin.
• Pink or purple stretch marks (striae) on the skin of the abdomen, thighs, breasts and arms
• Thinning, fragile skin that bruises easily
• Slow healing of cuts, insect bites and infections
• Acne

Women with Cushing’s syndrome may experience:

• Thicker or more visible body and facial hair (hirsutism)
• Irregular or absent menstrual periods

Men with Cushing’s syndrome may experience:

• Decreased libido
• Decreased fertility
• Erectile dysfunction

Other signs and symptoms include:

• Fatigue
• Muscle weakness
• Depression, anxiety and irritability
• Loss of emotional control
• Cognitive difficulties
• New or worsened high blood pressure
• Glucose intolerance that may lead to diabetes
• Headache
• Bone loss, leading to fractures over time
• Hyperlipidemia (elevated lipids – cholesterol – in the blood stream)
• Recurrent opportunistic or bacterial infections

April is always Cushing's Awareness Challenge month because Dr. Harvey Cushing was born on April 8th, 1869.

Thanks to Robin for this wonderful past logo!  I've participated in these 30 days for Cushing's Awareness several times so I'm not quite sure what is left to say this year but I always want to get the word out when I can.

As I see it, there have been some strides the diagnosis or treatment of Cushing's since last year.  More drug companies are getting involved, more doctors seem to be willing to test, a bit more awareness, maybe.

How fitting that this challenge should begin on April Fool's Day.  So much of Cushing's  Syndrome/Disease makes us Cushies seem like we're the April Fool.  Maybe, just maybe, it's the doctors who are the April Fools...

Doctors tell us Cushing's is too rare - you couldn't possibly have it.  April Fools!

All you have to do is exercise and diet.  You'll feel better.  April Fools!

Those bruises on your legs?  You're just clumsy. April Fools!

Sorry you're growing all that hair on your chin.  That happens as you age, you know.  April Fools!

Did you say you sleep all day?  You're just lazy.  If you exercised more, you'd have more energy. April Fools!

You don't have stretch marks.  April Fools!

You have stretch marks but they are the wrong [color/length/direction] April Fools!

The hump on the back of your neck is from your poor posture. April Fools!

Your MRI didn't show a tumor.  You couldn't have Cushing's. April Fools!

This is all in your mind.  Take this prescription for antidepressants and go home.  April Fools!

If you have this one surgery, your life will get back to normal within a few months. April Fools!

What?  You had transsphenoidal surgery for Cushing's?  You wasted your time and money. April Fools!

I am the doctor.  I know everything.  Do not try to find out any information online. You could not have Cushing's.  It's too rare...  April FOOL!

All this reminds me of a wonderful video a message board member posted a while ago:

https://youtu.be/GRaDr3cPAmE

So now - who is the April Fool?  It wasn't me.  Don't let it be you, either!

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajoc.2022.101455

Abstract

Conclusions and Importance

Subclinical Cushing's Syndrome (SCS) may present an underrecognized risk factor for developing chronic CSCR. Further investigation is needed to determine the threshold of visual comorbidity that may influence surgical management.

Keywords

Central serous chorioretinopathy

Subclinical Cushing's syndrome

Hypercortisolism

Adrenalectomy

Retina

Surgical intervention

1. Introduction

Central serous chorioretinopathy (CSCR) is characterized by accumulation of fluid in the subretinal or sub-RPE space, often with consequential visual impairment. Chronic CSCR has been reported as a manifestation of hypercortisolism due to Cushing's syndrome and subclinical hypercortisolism.^1,2 However, the latter is often underrecognized owing to its inherently subtle nature and the optimal threshold for intervention based on associated comorbidities remains unclear. Herein we report the clinical course of a patient with CSCR secondary to subclinical hypercortisolism before and after adrenalectomy.

2. Case report

A 50-year-old female presented with blurred, discolored spots in the right eye for several months. Her past medical history included mild hypertension treated with amlodipine. Past ocular and family history were noncontributory.

On exam, Snellen visual acuity was 20/50 OD, 20/25 OS. Her pupils, intraocular pressure, and anterior segment exam were within normal limits. Dilated fundus exam revealed bilateral, multifocal areas of subretinal fluid and mottled pigmentary changes (Fig. 1A). Optical coherence tomography confirmed areas of subretinal fluid and other areas of outer retinal atrophy (Fig. 1B). Fundus autofluorescence revealed areas of hyperautofluorescence that highlighted the fundoscopic findings (Fig. 1C). Fluorescein angiography showed multifocal areas of expansile dot leakage (Fig. 1D). Altogether these findings were consistent with multifocal, chronic CSCR.

1. Download : Download high-res image (1MB)
2. Download : Download full-size image

Fig. 1. Multimodal imaging of bilateral multifocal central serous chorioretinopathy. Fundus photographs reveal multifocal subretinal fluid and pigmentary changes (Fig. 1A). Optical coherence tomography demonstrates subretinal fluid and outer retinal atrophy (Fig. 1B). Areas of hyperautofluorescence highlight the fundoscopic findings of subretinal fluid (Fig. 1C). Fluorescein angiography showing multiple areas of expansile dot leakage (Fig. 1D).

On further clinical follow-up, an adrenal incidentaloma (AI) was detected when the patient underwent imaging for back pain. Subsequently she saw an endocrinologist; she had a normal serum cortisol, but low ACTH and an abnormal dexamethasone suppression test. This led to a diagnosis of subclinical hypercortisolism and provided a reason for her hypertension and chronic CSCR.

Since the blur and relative scotomata interfered with her daily activities, she elected to try eplerenone, which yielded a moderate but suboptimal therapeutic response at 50 mg daily. While contemplating photodynamic therapy, in discussion with her endocrinologist, the patient opted to undergo minimally-invasive adrenalectomy. At last follow-up 3 months after surgery and 6 years after her initial presentation, she has been off eplerenone and without subretinal fluid (Fig. 2).

1. Download : Download high-res image (1MB)
2. Download : Download full-size image

Fig. 2. Optical coherence tomography imaging at presentation and at last follow-up 3 months after adrenalectomy. There is a significant improvement in subretinal fluid in both eyes, though outer retinal irregularity remains.

3. Discussion

CSCR has previously been associated with many risk factors including exposure to excess steroid. A recent study analyzing a nationally representative dataset of 35,000 patients found that patients with CSCR had a higher odds of Cushing's syndrome (OR 2.19, 95% CI 1.33 to 3.59, p = 0.002) than exposure to exogenous steroids (OR 1.14, 95% CI 1.09 to 1.19, p < 0.001)¹ Our case highlights the importance of thorough medication reconciliation and careful consideration of comorbid conditions in patients with chronic CSCR.

In recent years, subtle endogenous hypercortisolism, termed subclinical Cushing's syndrome (SCS), has been of particular interest in the endocrinology literature because it can be a challenging diagnosis and the most appropriate management remains controversial.³ In general, SCS is comprised of: 1) the presence of an adrenal incidentaloma or mass, 2) biochemical confirmation of cortisol excess, and 3) no classic phenotypic manifestations of Cushing's syndrome.⁴ Since adrenal incidentaloma has an estimated prevalence of 1–8% of the population,⁵ it is quite possible that SCS is an underrecognized risk factor for CSCR.

SCS may potentiate metabolic syndrome and osteoporosis; studies have found that surgical resection of adrenal incidentalomas improve weight, blood pressure, and glucose control. Consequently, some authors recommend those with SCS-associated comorbidities be considered for resection.⁶ An important consideration in these patients is how visual comorbidity factors into intervention. In our patient's case, the recurrent CSCR, hypertension, and increased risk of metabolic syndrome were sufficient reasons to elect to have surgery.

4. Conclusion

In summary, SCS is a condition of subtle cortisol dysregulation that may represent an underrecognized risk factor for chronic CSCR. Further investigation is needed to determine the threshold of visual comorbidity that may influence surgical management.

Patient consent

Consent to publish the case report was not obtained. This report does not contain any personal information that could lead to the identification of the patient.

Acknowledgments and Disclosures

Grant support was from the J. Arch McNamara Retina Research Fund. The following authors have no financial disclosures: RRS, AS, AC All authors attest that they meet the current ICMJE criteria for Authorship. No other contributions to acknowledge.

 

References

1

M. Zhou, S.J. Bakri, S. Pershing

Risk factors for incident central serous retinopathy: case-control analysis of a US national managed care population

Br J Ophthalmol, 103 (12) (2019), pp. 1784-1788, 10.1136/bjophthalmol-2018-313050

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S.N. Appa

Subclinical hypercortisolism in central serous chorioretinopathy

Retin Cases Brief Rep, 8 (4) (2014), pp. 310-313, 10.1097/ICB.0000000000000036

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I. Chiodini, A. Albani, A.G. Ambrogio, et al.

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L.B. Hsieh, E. Mackinney, T.S. Wang

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© 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc.

 

From https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2451993622002018?via%3Dihub#!

Sorry guys - I just report the information as I get it

I'm in the same "remission boat". 

This study was done in Sweden so maybe if we stay away from there it will all be good?

BTW - welcome, Jazzy - sorry this was your first post.