A disease caused by excessive secretion of the hormone cortisol by the adrenal glands. Among the signs and symptoms of Cushing's syndrome are:
protein depletion, causing muscle
wasting and weakness; fragility of the blood vessels,
causing increased susceptibility to bruising; decalcification of the bones, causing spinal curvature;
occasional biochemical disorders such as diabetes; and---most obvious of all---the "moon face" and "buffalo hump" caused by facial obesity and
redistribution of body fat.
Women also suffer masculinization:
Excessive hair grows on the body, the voice deepens, and menstruation ceases.
Cushing's syndrome is
relatively rare, is more
common in women than in men, and develops most frequently in women over 30, particularly after a pregnancy. The complicated
disorders of the body seen in Cushing's syndrome---all due to an excess of cortisol hormones---are nowadays more commonly seen as a result of long-term
treatment with large doses of cortisone or similar
steroid drugs. People who
depend on steroids to
control such conditions as asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, or
colitis can develop the
characteristic "moon face" of Cushing's syndrome as an
early sign of chronic over dosage.
Apart from excessive steroid treatment, the cause of Cushing's
syndrome is either a
small tumor of one of the adrenal glands (which lie just above the kidneys) or a
tumor of the pituitary
gland leading to excessive
production of the adrenal-stimulating
hormone ACTH. In either case, the tumor must be treated. Pituitary tumors must be surgically removed or, if this proves impossible, treated with supervoltage irradiation. Adrenal tumors can
usually be treated by surgery.
The diagnosis is made by careful
biochemical assessment of hormone
output and, in particular, by measurement of the
urinary excretion of cortisone
breakdown products over a
given period. Skull X-ray
studies (to reveal a
possible tumor of the
pituitary gland) and complicated
blood tests also are necessary. Once the diagnosis is made, drugs are
necessary to compensate for the chemical, mineral, and
other hormonal deficiencies.
When the diseased adrenal
gland is removed surgically
along the tumor, the
remaining gland is often
found to be shrunken. Thus, supplements of the
correct amount of cortisone-like
hormone are necessary until the other gland recovers function; they may be
necessary throughout life.