Late Follow-up of 17 Adrenalectomy Patients with Emphasis on Eight with Adrenal Autotransplants

Cushing's disease has come full cycle. As originally asserted more than 50 years ago, modern diagnostic techniques now demonstrate an adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) secreting pituitary adenoma in approximately 80% of such patients. At this historical juncture, we report a long-term follow-up of our 17 patients who underwent adrenalectomy (8) or later adrenalectomy plus adrenal autotransplantation (9) between 1955 and 1976. Two patients died soon after surgery and five others died later of "natural" causes. Four others moved away but were stable when last contacted. Of the six patients who remain available for current follow-up, three have undergone hypophyseal surgery. Another patient has evidence of pituitary enlargement, and the remaining two are yet to undergo computerized tomography (CT) scan. Four illustrative cases are reviewed in some detail. One case presented with Nelson's syndrome and acute onset blindness. The second represented multiple endocrine adenomatosis with hyperparathyroidism in addition to Cushing's disease. The third exhibited Cushing's syndrome from the autotransplants, finally cured by hypophysectomy. The fourth exhibited huge ACTH levels from a large pituitary adenoma that could not be totally resected and recurrent Cushing's syndrome associated with large autotransplant "adenomas." The initial surgical treatment of choice is pituitary adenectomy. Bilateral adrenalectomy will remain useful where curative pituitary surgery is not feasible. Neither pituitary irradiation nor medical therapy has been truly effective in our patients. Adrenal autotransplants survive, to some extent, in virtually all patients. However, the degree of function is variable, and the full function may not be achieved for many months or even years. Functioning autotransplants have not prevented Nelson's syndrome, and they would appear to offer little practical benefit at this time.