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The authors report a case of a 49-year-old woman presenting a Cushing's syndrome (January 1997). The Magnetic Resonance Image of the pituitary gland revealed a microadenoma without extension in the cavernous sinus and a partial empty sella. The computed tomography scan showed a discreet bilateral adrenal hyperplasia with a left nodule (23 mm in diameter) a second nodule was noted. These data suggested the eventuality of maconodular adrenocortical hyperplasia in long-standing Cushing's disease. We discuss the implications of this finding for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up.

Specific MR techniques are required for optimal detection of adenocorticotropic hormone secreting adenomas responsible for Cushing's disease. Adequate MR sequences, high resolution coronal T1 and T2 - weighted images, dynamic MR imaging, post-gadolinium delayed images, dose of gadolinium adjusted for each sequence can routinely demonstrate pituitary adenomas less than 3 mm in Cushing's disease.

Multihormonal bilateral petrosal sinus sampling (BPSS) has been proposed to improve corticotroph microadenomas prediction of lateralisation. Few series have simultaneously compared data of pituitary MRI, surgical findings and multihormonal BPSS. Seven patients (6F/1M) with Cushing's disease, mean age at diagnosis of 35 years (range 24-55) were prospectively studied to compare radiological and multihormonal BPSS data with surgical and pathological findings. In untreated patients, simultaneous measures of ACTH, TSH and prolactine (PRL) were done at time 0, 7, 15, 22 minutes after CRH (500 microgram) and TRH (200 microgram) stimulation. An intersinus gradient of 1.4 was considered as a lateralisation. All microadenomas were identified during surgery, diameters ranged from 2 to 7 mm. All patients were in long-term surgical remission. Pathological studies confirmed a tumoral tissue with ACTH immunostaining in 6/7 cases and PRL in 3/7 cases. Pituitary MRI correctly identified tumors in 4 cases, the remaining tumors were not seen. Basal and stimulated intersinus gradients of ACTH, TSH and PRL were homolateral in 6/7 cases and were coincident with surgical findings in 4/7 cases. The other three cases were contralateral to MRI and surgical data. In conclusion, simultaneous gradient of ACTH, PRL and TSH did not improve lateralisation prediction in this series. Hormonal hypersecretion was homolateral in six cases whereas pathological studies demonstrated a mixed secretion in only three cases. A preferential pituitary draining could explain these discordances. Data from our series and from others (done with CRH stimulation and ACTH-PRL measures) strongly suggest a paracrine interaction between tumoral and normal pituitary tissue.

Purpose: Evaluate the MR sensibility for detection and localisation of ACTH-secreting microadenomas of the pituitary gland., Patients: and method. The MRI studies of the pituitary gland, performed before transsphenoidal surgical exploration, about 14 patients who present clinical and biological signs of Cushing disease, were reviewed retrospectively. We have always used unenhanced sagittal and coronal spin-echo T1 sequences, and coronal T1 after injection of gadolinium (1 Tesla)., Results: The global sensibility for detection of an adenoma was 100% (84 to 92% when the lesional localisation was considered). The injection of gadolinium increased the sensibility of 38 to 42% according the readers. 7 to 14% of the lesions were isointense after injection. The estimation of lesional size after injection was the nearer to the surgical results. The indirect sign most frequently seen (35.7 to 64.3%) was focal bulging of the sellar diaphragm. The only differences between the different radiologists, statistically significant, concerned the lesional size before injection and location of the lesion in the sagittal plane., Conclusion: This study confirmed the good sensibility of contrast-enhanced MRI in detection of ACTH-secreting microadenomas. The anatomo-radiological correlations are nevertheless incomplete.

Introduction: Disturbances of the sense of smell have been documented in many general pathologies. The actual etiology of such impairments is often difficult to determine. The aim of the authors is to review the literature on olfactory disorders in general diseases., Current Knowledge and Key Points: Acute and chronic liver disorders are frequently associated with hyposmia, which can be improved by vitamin A intake. Renal insufficiency could induce hyposmia according to the severity of the renal disease. Olfactory disorders seem to regress after transplantation but not after dialysis. Patients with AIDS--especially neurological forms--often present with taste and smell impairments. Smell alteration can also be noted in hypothyroidism and pseudohypoparathyroidism. In addition, taste and smell impairments have been described in patients with adrenal insufficiency or Cushing's disease. Subsequent to glucocorticoid therapy, adrenal insufficiency can induce regressive olfactory hypersensitivity. Olfactory impairments in diabetic patients can be associated with diabetic macrovascular manifestations due to ischemic alterations in the olfactory neuroepithelium. Impairment of the sense of smell has been described in many systemic diseases such as Horton's arteritis and Sjögren's syndrome., Future Prospects and Projects: Olfactory disorders should be investigated in patients presenting one of the above-mentioned diseases.

Cushing's syndrome is infrequently associated with adenocarcinomas of the lung. We present the clinical features of this syndrome in one case report. The pathogenesis of the syndrome explains the clinical signs, rather different from classical Cushing's disease and also the highly suggestive biological features. Ketoconazole improves clinical signs and biological abnormalities when etiological treatment is not effective.

We report a case of iatrogenic Cushing syndrome with dwarfism (-6 SD) in an eight-month-old infant. The respective role of exposure to corticosteroids in utero (the mother took 30 mg prednisolone per day throughout pregnancy) and postnatally (oral prednisolone, prednisolone in breast milk, and betamethasone cream) is discussed. Two other features are pointed out, i.e. presence of a food allergy and favorable outcome under hydrocortisone therapy.

Histological slides of the adrenals of 54 patients who underwent uni- or bilateral adrenalectomy for Cushing's syndrome at the Zürich University Hospital Department of urology between 1960 and 1977 were reexamined. In 29 patients (53.7%) Cushing's disease was due to diffuse bilateral adrenocortical hyperplasia, in 4 (7.4%) to micronodular cortical hyperplasia and in 3 (5.6%) to macronodular cortical hyperplasia and in 3 (5.6%) to macronodular hyperplasia. Two patients (3.7%) presented with primary bilateral nodular cortical dysplasia (so-called microadenomatosis). In 12 cases of Cushing's syndrome (22.2%) the basic lesion was a cortical adenoma and in 4 cases (7.4%) a cortical carcinoma. The histologic diagnoses corresponded well with biochemical findings, clinical diagnoses and further development of the disease. Histopathologic diagnosis of diffuse and micronodular hyperplasia presents no difficulties. Differential diagnosis of macronodular hyperplasia, cortical dysplasia, adenoma, and carcinoma may, however, be somewhat more problematic.