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The relationship between temporal muscle thickness and disease activity in Cushing’s disease

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Abstract

Objective

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between hypercortisolism and temporal muscle thickness (TMT) in Cushing's disease (CD).

Methods

A retrospective review of medical records was conducted for patients with CD who presented to our clinic between 2012 and 2022. Biochemical data and TMT measurements from sella imaging were evaluated during diagnosis and the first postoperative year.

Results

A total of 44 patients were included in the study, with an average age of 43.9 years, of which 38 were female. The mean TMT at the time of diagnosis was 19.07 ± 1.71 mm, with no significant difference between males and females (p = 0.097), and no correlation between the TMT and age at diagnosis (p = 0.497). There was an inverse relationship between TMT and serum cortisol levels, 24-h UFC, and midnight salivary cortisol at the time of diagnosis of CD (p < 0.05, for all). One year after surgery, TMT significantly increased in all patients compared to baseline (p < 0.001). Furthermore, patients who achieved postoperative remission had significantly higher TMT values compared to those who did not achieve remission (p = 0.043). Among the patients who achieved remission, those who achieved remission through surgery had significantly higher TMT compared to those who could not reach remission with surgery and patients who started medical treatment and achieved biochemical remission (p = 0.01). Patients with severe myopathy and sarcopenia had significantly lower TMT values than the others (p < 0.001).

Conclusion

Temporal muscle thickness was found to be associated with disease activity and disease control in Cushing's disease.

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Data availability

All data obtained or analyzed as part of this study are included in this article [and/or] its tables. The data archive can be made available on request. Further requests can be directed to the corresponding author.

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Funding

This study received no specific grants from public, commercial, or nonprofit entities.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurosurgery, Health Sciences University, Kartal Dr. Lütfi Kırdar City Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey

    D. Ozaydin

  2. Department of Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Diabetes, Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa, 34098, Istanbul, Turkey

    A. N. Demir, C. Sulu, S. Sahin & P. Kadioglu

  3. Department of Radiology, Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa, Istanbul, Turkey

    A. Oz & S. Arslan

  4. Department of Internal Medicine, Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa, Istanbul, Turkey

    A. Birol

  5. Department of Neurosurgery, Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa, Istanbul, Turkey

    N. Tanriover

  6. Department of Neurosurgery, Istinye University, Istanbul, Turkey

    N. Gazioglu

  7. Pituitary Center, Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa, Istanbul, Turkey

    N. Tanriover, N. Gazioglu & P. Kadioglu

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  1. D. Ozaydin
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Contributions

All authors made substantial contributions to the conception and design and/or data collection and/or analysis and interpretation of the data; participated in writing the article or critically revised it for important intellectual content; gave final approval for the version to be submitted.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to P. Kadioglu.

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Conflict of interest

The authors have no relevant financial or nonfinancial interests and declare no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

The study conformed to the ethical principles for medical research with human participants as described in the Declaration of Helsinki of the World Medical Association. The Ethics Committee of Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa approved the study (approval number: 711070).

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Signed informed consent was obtained from all study participants.

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Ozaydin, D., Demir, A.N., Oz, A. et al. The relationship between temporal muscle thickness and disease activity in Cushing’s disease. J Endocrinol Invest 46, 2411–2420 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40618-023-02195-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40618-023-02195-0

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