3 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging with and without corticotropin releasing hormone stimulation for the detection of microadenomas in Cushing's syndrome

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial looks at ACTH (Corticotropin) and CRH (Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone).

Who Took Part

The study group was 23 patients.

PubMed indexes the participants as young adults, adults, middle-aged adults and older adults, both men and women.

Subsequently, two additional MRIs were performed in random order: 3T nonstimulated MRI or 3T MRI with o-CRH in all patients.

Patients were divided into four groups, depending on the outcome of their evaluation and treatment for CS.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized and single-blind.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got ACTH (Corticotropin) and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

Only one side, usually the patients, was kept unaware of whether ACTH (Corticotropin) was given.

Three neuroradiologists reviewed all examinations in a randomized blinded fashion.

Two patients had to be excluded, and so the researchers report on 21 subjects.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are ACTH-Secreting Pituitary Adenoma, Adenoma, Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone, Cushing Syndrome, Diagnostic Techniques, Endocrine, Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Radiography.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized and single-blind study of ACTH (Corticotropin) and CRH (Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone) in 23 patients.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

Its findings take up roughly 5 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2010 (Clinical endocrinology), a journal based in England.

More context: the ACTH (Corticotropin) compound page and the CRH (Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone) compound page, all human trials.