Oncology & Cancer

Plant extract fights brain tumour

Silibinin has an outstanding safety profile in humans and is currently used for the treatment of liver disease and poisoning. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich discovered in collaboration with ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

A disease of mistaken identity

The symptoms of Cushing disease are unmistakable to those who suffer from it – excessive weight gain, acne, distinct colored stretch marks on the abdomen, thighs and armpits, and a lump, or fat deposit, on the back of the ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Scientists find potential therapeutic target for Cushing's disease

Scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have identified a protein that drives the formation of pituitary tumors in Cushing's disease, a development that may give clinicians a therapeutic target to treat this ...

Medications

Signifor approved for Cushing's disease

(HealthDay)—Signifor (pasireotide diaspartate) has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat Cushing's disease in cases that cannot be treated by surgery.

Cushing's syndrome is a hormone disorder caused by high levels of cortisol in the blood. This can be caused by taking glucocorticoid drugs, or by tumors that produce cortisol or adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) or CRH.

Cushing's disease refers to one specific cause of the syndrome: a tumor (adenoma) in the pituitary gland that produces large amounts of ACTH, which in turn elevates cortisol. It is the most common cause of Cushing's syndrome, responsible for 70% of cases excluding glucocorticoid related cases.

This pathology was described by Harvey Cushing in 1932. The syndrome is also called Itsenko-Cushing syndrome, hyperadrenocorticism or hypercorticism.

Cushing's syndrome is not confined to humans and is also a relatively common condition in domestic dogs and horses. It also occurs in cats, but rarely.

It should not be confused with Cushing's triad, a disease state resulting from increased intracranial pressure.

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