Cushing’s syndrome is a disorder that occurs when your body makes too much of the hormone cortisol over a long period of time. Cortisol is sometimes called the “stress hormone” because it helps your body respond to stress.
From the desk of PWN cofounder Lewis S. Blevins Jr. M.D. – I’ve always been fascinated with the history of medicine. It’s one of the things that led me to this profession in the first
From Lewis S Blevins, Jr. MD – Ninety per-cent of ACTH-dependent causes of hypercortisolism are related to pituitary adenoma. The remaining 10% are related to ectopic, or non pituitary, sources of ACTH secretion. One-third of
In this podcast, Dr. Lewis Blevins and Jorge Faccinetti discuss the highlights of the conference held in San Francisco in late October. The program focused on the latest updates and recent advances regarding pituitary tumors
From Lewis S Blevins, Jr. MD – Researchers at Harvard Medical School have reported their results on the evaluation of the use of the Late Night Salivary Cortisol (LNSC) in the evaluation of patients who
A recent article from the Endocrinology Department of “Escola Universitària d’Infermeria, Hospital Sant Pau, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain” explores health related quality of life (QoL) issues in patients with pituitary disease. The article
From Lewis S Blevins Jr, MD – I’ve seen a few instances over my career of auto-immune and inflammatory disorders flaring or becoming more apparent after someone has entered remission for Cushing’s syndrome. In each
From Lewis S. Blevins, Jr. MD – Somatostatin analogs are a class of drugs that are chemically modified forms of native somatostatin. They are meant to act like somatostatin. Somatostatin is produced in our bodies,
From Lewis S. Blevins Jr, MD – One of the greatest challenges facing medical practitioners is in the recognition and diagnosis of Cushing’s syndrome and disease. As if this not sufficiently difficult, an even greater
From Lewis S. Blevins Jr, MD – Transphenoidal pituitary surgery is the treatment of choice In the setting of Cushing’s disease due to a well-defined pituitary adenoma. Occasionally, patients with a suspected pituitary adenoma, but
From Lewis S Blevins Jr., MD – Twenty-four hour urine collections are often employed to estimate the production rates of various hormones. The accuracy of test results depends entirely on the proper collection of the
From Lewis S Blevins, Jr. MD – All too often, I see patients who come to the clinic with devastating recurrences of their pituitary tumors. For example, the accompanying MRI depicts a recurrent pituitary tumor in
From Lewis Blevins, MD – Photo of Dr. Lewis Blevins – Cortisol is a stress hormone. Thus, physical or psychic stress can elevate cortisol levels in normal persons. Depression and alcoholism can elevate cortisol