Surgical treatment of Cushing's disease: Analysis of an experience of 12 years

Abstract

This study reports our experience with respect to diagnosis and surgical treatment of 41 consecutive patients with Cushing's disease. The series consisted of 33 (79%) female, 8 (21%) male patents with a mean age of 35.4 years. Out of 41 patients, 18 underwent selective adenomectomy, 19 had partial hypophysectomy and 2 had subtotal hypophysectomy along with tumor removal. There were no serious complications attributable to the surgical interventions. The rate of initial remission was 92%. Six patients were treated for recurrences. After a mean follow up period of 38 months (range of 6 to 144 months), 35 of 41 patients remain in remission. In this study the results partial hypophysectomy was not found to be superior to selective adenonectomy. We conclude that radical transsphenoidal surgery is a safe and effective treatment method for Cushing's disease.