Case of diabetic ketoacidosis as an initial presentation of Cushing's syndrome

[A clinical Case and brief literature review of Icenko-Cushing's Disease in a pediatric patient with atypical onset of the disease]

Itsenko-Cushing's disease is a rare, multisystem disease characterized by the presence of endogenous central hypercortisolism due to an ACTH-secreting brain tumor. The frequency of Itsenko-Cushing's disease in adulthood is 0.7-2.4 per 1 million population, and only 10% of all cases occur in childhood. The age of onset of the disease in children is on average 12.0-14.8 years. A typical manifestation of the disease in children, along with obesity and arterial hypertension, is a decrease in growth rates. The gold standard for diagnosing central hypercortisolism is MRI of the brain, however, the effectiveness of this method in children is only 50%. The main method of treatment is neurosurgical transnasal transsphenoidal removal of endosellar pituitary adenoma, which makes it possible to achieve remission in more than 65% of cases. This article describes a clinical case of Itsenko-Cushing's disease in a 6.5-year-old child with obesity, arterial hypertension, atypically «high» stature, average velocity and non-visualizable corticotropinoma. The article presents the stages of diagnostic search, the complexity of differential diagnosis and surgical treatment, the results of follow-up after the treatment and a brief review of the literature.

A new look at brittle diabetes

"Brittle diabetes" was first used to describe a life "disrupted by episodes of hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia." Early descriptions focused on small case reports of mostly young women with psycho-social instability, recurrent diabetic ketoacidosis, poor patient compliance or maladaptation. We redefine "brittle diabetes" as occurring in four specific life stages each with distinct characteristics and associated conditions resulting in severely erratic glycemic control and poor outcomes. Once identified however these factors can often be reversed or significantly mitigated. The first group includes younger patients with associated psychiatric diseases such as bulimia and depression which require specific therapy and are treatable. A second group includes individuals who have another underlying medical condition resulting in disruption of insulin sensitivity or glucose utilization which must be sought. A third group, the largest we believe, has "geriatric type 1 diabetes" and develops severe glycemic instability due to frailty, chronic renal failure, dementia, vision loss, loss of counterregulation and other diseases of aging which lead to unintentional omission of insulin, insulin dosing errors and increasing insulin sensitivity. The fourth group, now seen around the world, suffers lack of insulin access and associated food insecurity. All four of these groups are described.

The Interaction of Insulin and Pituitary Hormone Syndromes

Pituitary hormone axes modulate glucose metabolism and exert direct or indirect effects on insulin secretion and function. Cortisol and growth hormone are potent insulin-antagonistic hormones. Therefore impaired glucose tolerance, elevated fasting glucose concentrations and diabetes mellitus are frequent in Cushing's disease and acromegaly. Also prolactinomas, growth hormone (GH) deficiency, hypogonadism and hypothyroidism might be associated with impaired glucose homeostasis but usually to a lesser extent. Therefore glucose metabolism needs to be closely monitored and treated in patients with pituitary adenomas. Correction of the pituitary dysfunction is frequently followed by improvement of glucose homeostasis.