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Review
. 2022;61(14):2171-2177.
doi: 10.2169/internalmedicine.8665-21. Epub 2022 Jul 15.

Onset of Aortic Dissection Complicated with Cushing's Disease: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Haruka Takenouchi  1 , Takatoshi Anno  1 , Hideyuki Iwamoto  1 , Kaio Takahashi  1 , Yuichiro Iwamoto  1 , Megumi Horiya  1 , Yukiko Kimura  1 , Fumiko Kawasaki  1 , Kohei Kaku  1 , Koichi Tomoda  1 , Shigeki Ono  2 , Hideaki Kaneto  3
Affiliations
Review

Onset of Aortic Dissection Complicated with Cushing's Disease: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Haruka Takenouchi et al. Intern Med. 2022.

Abstract

Cushing's syndrome and Cushing's disease cause various metabolic disorders associated with high cortisol levels. Some reports have shown that Cushing's syndrome is complicated with dissecting aortic aneurysm and aortic dissection after long-term exposure to high cortisol levels. We herein report a rare case of aortic dissection complicated with Cushing's disease. Aortic dissection may occur even under relatively short periods of high cortisol conditions. This case suggests that hypercortisolemia should be treated as soon as possible in order to prevent aortic dissection in subjects with Cushing's disease.

Keywords: Cushing's disease; aortic dissection; diabetes mellitus; dyslipidemia; hypertension.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors state that they have no Conflict of Interest (COI).

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Pituitary enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed pituitary tumor (upper panel). The size of the pituitary tumor was up to 11 mm in diameter (white arrow). Histopathological findings (lower panel). Hematoxylin and Eosin staining of the pituitary gland (magnification10×20). The pituitary gland was filled with tumor cells with round nuclei and eosinophilic cytoplasm. ACTH staining of the pituitary gland (10×10). Pituitary adenoma cells were diffusely stained on ACTH staining.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Chest and abdominal enhanced computed tomography (CT) one month before (left upper panel) and two months after (right upper and right lower panel) the diagnosis of Cushing’s disease. Enhanced chest and abdominal CT two months after the diagnosis of Cushing’s disease revealed Stanford type A aortic dissection spreading from the aortic arch to the renal arterial branch, although this had not been observed one month before the diagnosis.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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MeSH terms