SUCCESSFUL TREATMENT OF A CASE OF CUSHING'S SYNDROME BY ELECTROCOAGULATION OF THE HYPOPHYSIS

Abstract

IRRADIATION of the pituitary region, up to now, has been the nonsurgical method of choice in the treatment of Cushing's syndrome not due to adrenocortical tumor. Good therapeutic results have been reported by a number of authors. Luft (1) described 7 cases of Cushing's syndrome treated by massive doses of x-ray; 4 showed a complete or almost complete remission. Sosman (2) reviewed 42 cases from the literature up to 1948; 9 showed a complete recovery. Plotz et al. (3) reported on 19 cases; 9 showed complete or partial improvement after irradiation. Johnsen (4), on the whole, had similar experiences with x-ray treatment. The literature, however, contains a large number of reports on cases of Cushing's syndrome uninfluenced by x-ray treatment. It is a matter Of discussion whether some of these cases received insufficient dosage. The duration of the therapeutic effect is difficult to judge from the reports in literature, but permanent improvement has been observed. During recent years an approach to surgical treatment of Cushing's syndrome has been made. In this connection reports by Pattison and Swan (5) and later by Northfield (6) should be mentioned. They inserted radon seeds into the pituitary, with some curative effect. Subtotal adrenalectomy has been performed with therapeutic success in a fairly large number of cases (7).