Why is pituitary surgery performed rather than adrenal surgery for Cushings disease?
Cushing’s disease is best treated with the surgical removal of the pituitary tumor, usually with a technique called transsphenoidal resection (behind the nose) by a neurosurgeon. Occasionally, the entire pituitary gland will need to be removed or injured in order to cure the Cushing’s disease, leaving the person with a deficiency of ACTH and the other pituitary hormones. This can be treated by giving replacement hormones for cortisol, thyroid and gonadal (sex) hormones. Fertility can be restored with special hormonal therapies. If the pituitary tumor cannot be removed, radiation therapy to the pituitary can be used, but the improvement in the Cushing’s Syndrome is much slower. Before transsphenoidal surgery became available, the surgical removal of both adrenal glands was common, but this always produced adrenal insufficiency and sometimes caused large ACTH producing pituitary tumors to grow (called Nelson’s syndrome). That is why pituitary surgery rather than adrenal surgery is usuall
