Abstract
Hypercortisolism or Cushing’s syndrome is the presence of elevated amounts of cortisol in the body. Corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH) is released in the hypothalamus, causing release of ACTH from the anterior pituitary. ACTH then acts on the adrenal glands (in the adrenal cortex) to produce cortisol. The most common cause of Cushing’s syndrome is exogenous steroids. If elevated ACTH is produced by a pituitary tumor, the patient is instead said to have Cushing’s disease.
The clinical syndrome caused by hypercortisolism is indistinguishable from metabolic syndrome, typically manifested as central obesity syndrome, insulin resistance (hyperglycemia), hypertension, and dyslipidemia.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Hamrahian AH, Yuen KCJ, Hoffman AR. AACE/ACE disease state clinical review: medical management of Cushing disease. Endocr Pract. 2014;20(7):746–57.
Lindholm J. Cushing’s disease, pseudo-Cushing states and the dexamethasone test: a historical and critical review. Pituitary. 2014;17:374–80.
Raff H, Findling JW. A physiologic approach to diagnosis of the Cushing syndrome. Ann Intern Med. 2003;138:990–1.
Tritos NA, Biller BMK, Swearingen B. Management of Cushing disease. Nat Rev Endocrinol. 2011;7:279–89.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Sharp, C.S., Wilson, M.P. (2018). Hypercortisolism (Cushing’s Syndrome). In: Nordstrom, K., Wilson, M. (eds) Quick Guide to Psychiatric Emergencies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58260-3_19
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58260-3_19
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-58258-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-58260-3
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)