Cushing syndrome

[Dianne]

In Cushing syndrome, the level of corticosteroids is excessive, usually due to taking corticosteroid drugs or overproduction by the adrenal glands.

Cushing syndrome usually results from taking corticosteroids to treat a medical disorder or from a tumor in the pituitary or adrenal gland that causes the adrenal glands to produce excessive corticosteroids.
Cushing syndrome can also result from tumors in other locations (such as the lungs)
People with Cushing syndrome usually develop excessive fat throughout the torso and have a large, round face and thin skin.
Doctors measure the level of cortisol and do other tests to detect Cushing syndrome.
Surgery or radiation therapy is often needed to remove a tumor.

(See also Overview of the Adrenal Glands.)
The adrenal glands may overproduce corticosteroids because of a problem in the adrenal glands or because of too much stimulation from the pituitary gland, which controls the adrenal glands and other endocrine glands. An abnormality in the pituitary gland, such as a tumor, can cause the pituitary to produce large amounts of corticotropin , the hormone that controls the production of corticosteroids by the adrenal glands (a condition known as Cushing disease). Tumors outside the pituitary gland, such as small cell lung cancer or a carcinoid tumor in the lungs or elsewhere in the body, can produce corticotropin as well (a condition called ectopic corticotropin syndrome).
Sometimes a noncancerous tumor (adenoma) develops in the adrenal glands, which causes them to overproduce corticosteroids. Adrenal adenomas are extremely common. About 10% of all people have them by the age of 70. Only a small fraction of adenomas produce excess hormone, however. Cancerous tumors of the adrenal glands are very rare, but some of them also produce excess hormone.