A rare hormonal disorder produced by chronically increased levels of the hormone cortisol in the bloodstream; also known as hypercortisolism. Cushing syndrome tends to affect adults between the ages of 20 and 50 years.
The condition resulting from excess amounts of corticosteroid hormones in the body. Symptoms include weight gain, reddening of the face and neck, excess growth of body and facial hair, raised blood pressure, loss of mineral from the bones (osteoporosis), raised blood glucose levels, and sometimes mental disturbances. The syndrome may be due to overstimulation of the adrenal glands by excessive amounts of the hormone ACTH, secreted either by a tumor of the pituitary gland (Cushing’s disease) or by a malignant tumor in the lung or elsewhere. Other causes include a benign or malignant tumor of the adrenal gland(s) resulting in excess activity of the gland and prolonged therapy with high doses of corticosteroid drugs (such as prednisone).
Described in 1932 by Harvey Cushing, an American neurosurgeon, Cushing’s syndrome is due to an excess production of cortisol. It can thus result from an adrenal tumour secreting cortisol, or from a pituitary gland tumour secreting ACTH and stimulating both adrenal cortexes to hypertrophy and secrete excess cortisol. It is sometimes the result of ectopic production of ACTH from non-endocrine tumours in the lung and pancreas.
A condition resulting from a disruption in the pituitary gland, marked by facial and trunk obesity, muscle weakness, elevated blood pressure, diabetes, infrequent or absent menstrual cycles, and various other abnormalities.