Adrenal News

Young adult patients with a typical clinical presentation of primary aldosteronism can be spared invasive and expensive adrenal vein sampling and expect similar outcomes by using CT imaging to diagnosis disease subtype, according to findings from a retrospective study conducted in Japan.

Children with congenital adrenal hyperplasia tend to have lower bone mineral density compared with healthy children, but body composition is similar, according to findings published in Clinical Endocrinology.

Patients with primary and secondary adrenal insufficiency who received once-daily, dual-release hydrocortisone therapy for 3 years experienced decreases in BMI, waist circumference and HbA1c, with the added benefit of improved insulin secretion and sensitivity for patients with adrenal insufficiency and prediabetes, study findings show.

Among patients with new, persistent or recurrent Cushing’s disease, researchers observed cortisol levels that fluctuated widely over 6 months, with measurements falling into the normal range more than 50% of the time for a few patients, according to findings from a prospective study.

Endocrine Today has compiled a list of the top five adrenal news reports posted in 2017.

Researchers have identified what they called an “unexpected role” for a protein involved in adrenal gland development and primary aldosteronism, potentially opening a new pathway for therapeutic agents to treat the condition, according to an announcement from Sanford-Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute.

Patients with primary or secondary adrenal insufficiency assigned to once-daily hydrocortisone therapy for 24 weeks experienced fewer infections and improved metabolic control and reported a higher quality of life vs. patients prescribed conventional therapy, according to findings from an Italian study.

Patients with primary aldosteronism have markedly increased risk for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events, including stroke and coronary artery disease, compared with those with essential hypertension, and that risk persists even with mineralocorticoid antagonist therapy, according to two analyses published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.

Although patients with Addison’s disease who were treated with glucocorticoids demonstrated increased cortisol exposure, they did not have increased levels of visceral abdominal adipose tissue compared with healthy controls, study data showed.

In patients with persistent or recurring Cushing’s disease after surgery, monthly pasireotide was safe and effective, leading to normal urinary free cortisol levels in about 40% of patients after 12 months, according to findings from a phase 3 clinical trial.