Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Dec 1;117(12):1889-1893.
doi: 10.14309/ajg.0000000000001939. Epub 2022 Aug 12.

How I Approach It: Adrenal Insufficiency in Cirrhosis

Affiliations

How I Approach It: Adrenal Insufficiency in Cirrhosis

Brian J Wentworth et al. Am J Gastroenterol. .

Abstract

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest: none

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Normal Adrenal Steroidogenesis.
Abbreviations: StAR, steroidogenic acute regulatory protein; 3β-HSD, 3-beta hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase; 21-OH, 21-hydroxylase; 11β-OH, 11-beta hydroxylase; 18-OH, 18-hydroxylase; 17α-OH, 17-alpha hydroxylase; 17,20, 17,20-lyase; ACTH, adrenocorticotropic hormone; AT-II, angiotensin II.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.. Potential pathophysiologic diagram of RAI.
Cytokines shown in figure are not exhaustive but representative of known pro-inflammatory cytokines upregulated in cirrhosis. Impaired adrenal enzyme activity or steroidogenesis pathway shunting (not shown here, see Figure 1) represents another potential underlying causal mechanism of RAI.

References

    1. Wentworth BJ, Haug RM, Northup PG, Caldwell SH, Henry ZH. Abnormal cholesterol metabolism underlies relative adrenal insufficiency in decompensated cirrhosis. Liver Int. 2021;41(8):1913–21. - PubMed
    1. Piano S, Favaretto E, Tonon M, Antonelli G, Brocca A, Sticca A, et al. Including Relative Adrenal Insufficiency in Definition and Classification of Acute-on-Chronic Liver Failure. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2020;18(5):1188–96.e3. - PubMed
    1. Acevedo J, Fernández J, Prado V, Silva A, Castro M, Pavesi M, et al. Relative adrenal insufficiency in decompensated cirrhosis: Relationship to short-term risk of severe sepsis, hepatorenal syndrome, and death. Hepatology. 2013;58(5):1757–65. - PubMed
    1. Jang JY, Kim TY, Sohn JH, Lee TH, Jeong SW, Park EJ, et al. Relative adrenal insufficiency in chronic liver disease: its prevalence and effects on long-term mortality. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2014;40(7):819–26. - PubMed
    1. Tan T, Chang L, Woodward A, McWhinney B, Galligan J, Macdonald GA, et al. Characterising adrenal function using directly measured plasma free cortisol in stable severe liver disease. J Hepatol. 2010;53(5):841–8. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms