1/66. Adrenal scintigraphy with 131-I-adosterol.A new adrenal scanning agent, adosterol (131I-6beta-iodomethyl-19-norcholest-5(10)-en-3beta-ol) has been evaluated in three female patients with hypercorticism. In one case, characterised by recurrent adrenocortical hyperactivity after bilateral adrenalectomy, a remnant of adrenal tissue was detected. In two other cases, the presence of an adrenal tumour could be excluded. The scan made on the 6th day after the administration of adosterol was found to be superior in quality to that made on the 13th day.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = adrenal (Clic here for more details about this article) |
2/66. Primary aldosteronism and adrenal incidentaloma.Adrenal incidentaloma are usually found during the assessment of non adrenal disease. In this paper we report the association between a bilateral adrenal hyperplasia and a macronodule of adrenal cortex (adrenal incidentaloma) which is a rare and misleading cause of primary aldosteronism. In the light of this association even if it is likely to remain rare and of those previously published, its existence is an additional reason for suggesting surgical treatment of primary aldosteronism only to patients who satisfy the following criteria: 1) satisfactory control with spironolactone; 2) poor spironolactone tolerance and poor control with other drugs; 3) accept to be operated on and the risk of a possible error.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 2keywords = adrenal (Clic here for more details about this article) |
3/66. adrenocortical carcinoma in two female children.adrenocortical carcinoma is a rare tumor in children. This tumor is more likely to be hormonally active in children than in adults and tends to cause a variety of symptoms, which may mimic other benign endocrinopathies. These tumors are usually diagnosed at advanced stages and portend a dismal prognosis. We describe two cases of adrenocortical carcinoma. One child presented with Cushingoid symptoms secondary to hypercortisolism, including amenorrhea, hirsutism and weight gain. The other child presented with precocious puberty. Both children underwent resection of the tumors. We describe their presenting symptoms, postoperative course, adjuvant therapy and clinical course. Pertinent literature regarding the anatomy of the adrenal gland, pathology of adrenocortical carcinoma, factors influencing outcome, diagnostic modalities and treatment, are discussed.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.32981741034901keywords = adrenal, adrenal gland, gland (Clic here for more details about this article) |
4/66. Heterozygous mutation in the cholesterol side chain cleavage enzyme (p450scc) gene in a patient with 46,XY sex reversal and adrenal insufficiency.Cytochrome P450scc, the mitochondrial cholesterol side chain cleavage enzyme, is the only enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of cholesterol to pregnenolone and, thus, is required for the biosynthesis of all steroid hormones. Congenital lipoid adrenal hyperplasia is a severe disorder of steroidogenesis in which cholesterol accumulates within steroidogenic cells and the synthesis of all adrenal and gonadal steroids is impaired, hormonally suggesting a disorder in P450scc. However, congenital lipoid adrenal hyperplasia is caused by mutations in the steroidogenic acute regulatory protein StAR; it has been thought that P450scc mutations are incompatible with human term gestation, because P450scc is needed for placental biosynthesis of progesterone, which is required to maintain pregnancy. In studying patients with congenital lipoid adrenal hyperplasia, we identified an individual with normal StAR and SF-1 genes and a heterozygous mutation in P450scc. The mutation was found in multiple cell types, but neither parent carried the mutation, suggesting it arose de novo during meiosis, before fertilization. The patient was atypical for congenital lipoid adrenal hyperplasia, having survived for 4 yr without hormonal replacement before experiencing life-threatening adrenal insufficiency. The P450scc mutation, an in-frame insertion of Gly and Asp between Asp271 and Val272, was inserted into a catalytically active fusion protein of the P450scc system (H2N-P450scc-adrenodoxin Reductase-adrenodoxin-COOH), completely inactivating enzymatic activity. Cotransfection of wild-type and mutant vectors showed that the mutation did not exert a dominant negative effect. Because P450scc is normally a slow and inefficient enzyme, we propose that P450scc haploinsufficiency results in subnormal responses to ACTH, so that recurrent ACTH stimulation leads to a slow accumulation of adrenal cholesterol, eventually causing cellular damage. Thus, although homozygous absence of P450scc should be incompatible with term gestation, haploinsufficiency of P450scc causes a late-onset form of congenital lipoid adrenal hyperplasia that can be explained by the same two-hit model that has been validated for congenital lipoid adrenal hyperplasia caused by StAR deficiency.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 3.25keywords = adrenal (Clic here for more details about this article) |
5/66. schizophrenia and Cushing's syndrome cured by adrenalectomy.A case of Cushing's syndrome in a woman aged 50 years is described, with psychosis of schizophrenic type. The psychosis and endocrine disorder were subsequently cured by adrenalectomy. Twenty-five years previously the patient had a typical schizophrenic psychosis treated in mental hospital with a deep insulin therapy and ECT. The possibility is raised that deep insulin therapy could have induced the Cushing's syndrome through its non-specific stressor effect on the pituitary-adrenal axis.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1.5keywords = adrenal (Clic here for more details about this article) |
6/66. Postpuberal castration and prostatic carcinoma.The occurrence of prostatic carcinoma after postpuberal castration is rather unique since only one other case has been reported. However, there was no lack of androgens in the patient in this report, because the testicular ablation was compensated by nodular hyperplasia of the adrenal cortex maintaining a normal plasma testosterone.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.25keywords = adrenal (Clic here for more details about this article) |
7/66. Hypercortisolism in childhood: shortcomings of conventional diagnostic criteria.Two patients are described in whom hypercortisolism occurred prepubertally as a consequence of bilateral adrenocortical hyperplasia. In contrast with the manifestations of Cushing's syndrome in adults, these children presented with obesity and reduced stature and no other symptoms. Both patients excreted amounts of urinary 17-OHCS before and during a conventional suppression test with dexamethasone (0.5 mg every six hours) which were within the usual normal range. However, when urinary 17-OHCS excretion was expressed per gram of urinary creatinine or per square meter of surface area, and when the dose of dexamethasone was tailored to body mass (20mug/kg/day) the results were clearly abnormal, as were plasma corticoids and (in one patient) cortisol secretion rate. Resumption of linear growth occurred after bilateral adrenalectomy in both patients and was associated, in the one patient so studied, by a return of hypoglycemia-stimulated increases in plasma growth hormone levels from previously suppressed values to the normal range, and by a slight increase in the fasting plasma somatomedin concentration. The observations suggest that pediatric patients with hypercortisolism are likely to be overlooked when conventional criteria for laboratory diagnosis are used, but can be recognized by the simple diagnostic modifications used in these studies.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.25keywords = adrenal (Clic here for more details about this article) |
8/66. Dual sites of inhibition by metyrapone of human adrenal steroidogenesis: correlation of in vivo and in vitro studies.In a patient with pituitary ACTH-dependent adrenal hyperplasia (AH), the standard oral metyrapone test resulted in a decrease in "apparent 11beta-hydroxylase activity" (-48%) accompanied by an increase in "apparent cholesterol cleavage activity" ( 318%). When incubated adrenal mitochondria from this patient were studied, metyrapone inhibited both 11beta-hydroxylation of labeled 11-deoxycorticosterone and cleavage of labeled cholesterol, although at 0.1 and 1.0 mM metyrapone concentrations, depression of cholesterol cleavage (23 and 54%, respectively) was less than that of 11beta-hydroxylation (62 and 84%, respectively). The inhibition of cholesterol cleavage by metyrapone (26 and 62%, at 0.1 and 1.0 mM concentrations, respectively) was also demonstrable in adrenal mitochondria from a patient with hypercorticism resulting from an ACTH-independent adrenal adenoman (AA). metyrapone administration to AA resulted in a significant depression of both 11beta-hydroxylase (-62%) and cholesterol cleavage (-36%) "apparent activities"; when metyrapone and ACTH were given together to this patient, however, only 11beta-hydroxylase "apparent activity" diminished (-26%), while cholesterol cleavage "apparent activity" was greatly augmented ( 231%), thereby simulating the results of the standard metyrapone test in AH. These data demonstrate that metyrapone inhibits both mitochondrial reactions involved in cortisol synthesis--initial cholesterol cleavage and final 11beta-hydroxylation; these effects probably result from interference by this agent with the interaction between substrate and related cytochrome P - 450. Since ACTH has a major stimulatory effect on cholesterol cleavage but not on 11beta-hydroxylation, the outcome of metyrapone administration is thus determined by whether a change in ACTH level ensues: while 11beta-hydroxylation is inhibited by metyrapone under any circumstances, total steroid output rises when a compensatory ACTH increase overcomes metyrapone inhibition of cholesterol conversion into pregnenolone and falls when metyrapone inhibition of this reaction is unopposed.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 2keywords = adrenal (Clic here for more details about this article) |
9/66. Cushing's syndrome secondary to adrenocorticotropin-independent macronodular adrenocortical hyperplasia due to activating mutations of GNAS1 gene.ACTH-independent macronodular adrenal hyperplasia (AIMAH) is an uncommon cause of Cushing's syndrome characterized by bilateral nodular adrenocortical hyperfunction in the presence of suppressed ACTH levels. We investigated whether activating mutations in the ACTH receptor (MC2-R) or G(s alpha) (GNAS1) genes might be involved in AIMAH genesis. Five women with Cushing's syndrome due to AIMAH, confirmed by histological studies, and no signs of McCune-Albright syndrome were selected for molecular analysis of these genes. The single exon of the MC2-R gene and exons 8 and 9 of the GNAS1 gene were amplified by PCR in genomic dna from adrenal nodules and peripheral blood. Direct sequencing revealed only MC2-R wild-type sequences. GNAS1 PCR products at denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis revealed abnormal migration patterns in adrenal tissues of three patients. Automatic sequencing showed two different activating mutations at codon Arg(201) of GNAS1, a substitution by histidine in two cases and by serine in one case. In conclusion, we found two different gsp mutations in three patients with Cushing's syndrome due to AIMAH, and we speculate whether they belong to the spectrum of McCune-Albright syndrome or whether these are the first reported cases of AIMAH due to gsp mutations.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.75keywords = adrenal (Clic here for more details about this article) |
10/66. Virilizing adrenal tumor in a child suppressed with dexamethasone for three years. Effect of o,p'-DDD on serum and urinary androgens.Extensive hormonal evaluation was performed in a girl with adrenal carcinoma during the primary tumor stage, following adrenalectomy, during the period when metastases were evident and while on treatment with o,p'-DDD. At the age of 14 months a diagnosis of congenital adrenal hyperplasia was made and treatment with dexamethasone (0.125 to 0.25 mg/day) resulted in a fall-off in growth rate, normal advancement in bone age, decrease in virilization and suppression of 17- ketosteroid excretion which continued until 4 3/12 years of age when virilization increased. At five years of age elevated serum and urinary androgen levels unsuppressible with dexamethasone were noted. Following removal of a large right adrenal carcinoma, serum and urinary hormone levels returned to normal. There months following surgery, liver metastases were documented associated with elevated levels of serum androgens. With o,p'-DDD treatment, serum dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DS) and urinary 17-ketosteroid (17-KS) excretion fell rapidly while there was a delay in the fall of free androgens. The persistence of free steroid secretion with decreased formation of DS suggests that the o,p'-DDD may have altered sulfatase activity before causing tumor necrosis and total decrease in steroidogenesis.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 2keywords = adrenal (Clic here for more details about this article) |
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