Drug Therapy Reverses Cushing's Syndrome

[Guest motherofc]

Thought this was an interesting article!

Leuprolide Acetate Therapy Reverses Cushing's Syndrome

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WESTPORT, Nov 22 (Reuters Health) - A 63-year-old woman with Cushing's syndrome had a complete reversal of symptoms after treatment with leuprolide acetate, Canadian researchers report in the November 18th issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

Dr. Andre Lacroix and colleagues of Hotel-Dieu du Centre Hospitalier de l'Universite de Montreal, in Canada, present the case report of a woman with corticotropin-independent Cushing's syndrome caused by bilateral adrenal hyperplasia. Her symptoms became apparent transiently during pregnancy and permanently after menopause.

Treating the woman with gonadotropin-releasing hormone, luteinizing hormone, chorionic gonadotropin, and drugs that activate serotonin 5-hydroxy-tryptamine receptors stimulated cortisol production, while treatment with follicle-stimulating hormone did not. Intramuscular administration of leuprolide acetate every 4 weeks lowered the patient's plasma cortisol levels to within the normal range within 6 months, by suppressing endogenous luteinizing hormone secretion.

"The bilateral nature of the adrenal hyperplasia in our patient suggests that the abnormal tissue-specific expression of the luteinizing hormone and chorionic gonadotropin receptor and the [5-hydroxy-tryptamine] receptor occurred during embryogenesis, but the syndrome became clinically evident only after sustained increases in endogenous secretion of the two gonadotropins either during the pregnancies or after menopause," the authors write.

"The identification of ectopic adrenal receptors could eventually lead to diverse drug treatments as alternatives to adrenalectomy for patients with adrenal Cushing's syndrome," the authors suggest in the journal.

N Engl J Med 1999;341:1577-1581.

 

[Kristy]

I found the article at http://content.nejm.org/content/vol341/iss...dex.shtml

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If I am correct, this type of adrenal hyperplasia is related to food induced cushings that weve been discussing in cyclical.

(Edited by Kristy at 3:11 pm on Sep. 12, 2001)

[Guest Jean Ann]

Kristy,

I tried to check on the link but it doesn't go through. I am really interested in reading this article so any help you can give me will be appreciated.

-jean ann

[Kristy]

I fixed the link. I guess they removed it from findarticles.com!