Cushing's syndrome: historical aspects

Abstract

A brief overview of the most important steps leading to our present knowledge of hypercorticism is given. The adrenals were described in 1563 and the pituitary had been known since Antiquity. Until Addison's description of adrenal insufficiency in 1855 virtually nothing was known of their function. Cushing in 1912 described his famous patient with hypercorticism but assumed it to be a polyglandular disorder. For almost 40 years the etiology was disputed, though Bauer early had postulated that hypercorticism ultimately reflected adrenal hyperfunction, either primarily or secondarily. Though Krause, Schloffer, Cushing, Hirsch and others early in the 20th century had introduced pituitary surgery, it was not until 1933 that the first patient with Cushing's disease had neurosurgery performed. This therapy did not gain wide acceptance until Gidot & Thibaut and Hardy pioneered transsphenoidal surgery. Adrenal surgery was for many years the treatment of hypercorticism but prior to the availability of glucocorticosteroids substitution an extremely perilous undertaking.