Question: Dr. Wagenmakers, what were your findings about vascular health in Cushing’s patients after successful treatment of Cushing’s? 

Answer: It is known that during active Cushing’s, vascular changes occur as well as premature atherosclerosis. To find out if these abnormalities continued after successful treatment, we looked at several markers of vascular health in 63 patients in remission from Cushing’s for over 4 years and well matched, healthy controls. We found that the vascular health of these patients were comparable to controls provided that the patients had no or well controlled co-morbidities (such as high blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes). Thus, the effects of hypercortisolism on the vasculature may be reversible and it is extremely important to aggressively treat any co-morbidities.

Endo 2016: Vascular Health in Patients in Long-Term Remission of Cushing’s Syndrome and No or Adequately Treated Co-Morbidity Is Comparable to BMI-Matched Subjects, Poster Board FRI 407

Authors: Margreet A.E.M. Wagenmakers*(1), Sean H.P.P. Roerink (1), Tim H Schreuder (2), Theo S Plantinga (1), Suzanne Holewijn (1), Dick H.J. Thijssen (2), Johannes W.A. Smit (1), Gerard A Rongen (1), Alberto M. Pereira (3), Anton JM Wagenmakers (4), Romana T. Netea-Maier (1) and Ad RMM Hermus (5)

1 Radboud University Medical Center Nijmegen, Netherlands, 2 Radboud University Medical Center Nijmegen, Netherlands, 3 Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands, 4 Liverpool John Moores University, United Kingdom, 5 Radboud University Medical Center, Netherlands

Newsletter: Summer, 2016