Normalized Early Postoperative Cortisol and ACTH Values Predict Nonremission After Surgery for Cushing Disease

Perioperative increases in adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and cortisol mimic results of corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) stimulation testing. This phenomenon may help identify patients with residual adenoma after transsphenoidal surgery (TSS) for Cushing disease (CD).

To predict nonremission after TSS for CD.

Retrospective case-control study of patients treated at a single center from December 2003 until July 2016. Early and medium-term remission were assessed at 10 days and 11 months.

Two hundred and ninety-one consecutive TSS cases from 257 patients with biochemical evidence of CD seen at a clinical center.

Normalized early postoperative values (NEPVs) for cortisol and ACTH were calculated as immediate postoperative cortisol or ACTH levels minus preoperative post-CRH-stimulation test levels.

Prediction of early nonremission was evaluated using logistic regression. Prediction of medium-term remission was assessed using Cox regression. Predictive ability was quantified by area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC).

NEPVs for cortisol and ACTH predicted early nonremission [adjusted odds ratio (OR): 1.1; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.0, 1.1; P = 0.016 and adjusted OR: 1.0; 95% CI: 1.0, 1.0; P = 0.048, respectively]. AUROC for NEPV of cortisol was 0.78 (95% CI: 0.61, 0.95); for NEPV of ACTH, it was 0.80 (95% CI: 0.61, 0.98). NEPVs for cortisol and ACTH predicted medium-term nonremission [hazard ratio (HR): 1.1; 95% CI: 1.0, 1.1; P = 0.023 and HR: 1.0; 95% CI: 1.0, 1.0; P = 0.025, respectively].

NEPVs for cortisol and ACTH predicted nonremission after TSS for CD.