The Short Synacthen (Corticotropin) Test Can Be Used to Predict Recovery of Hypothalamo-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis Function

What Was Tested

This observational study looks at ACTH (Corticotropin) and Cosyntropin.

The 250-μg short Synacthen (corticotropin) test (SST) is the most commonly used tool to assess hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis function.

To use the SST results to predict adrenal recovery.

Why It Was Studied

There are many potentially reversible causes of adrenal insufficiency (AI), but no data to guide clinicians as to the frequency of repeat testing or likelihood of HPA axis recovery.

Who Took Part

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were adults, middle-aged adults and older adults, both men and women.

Seven hundred seventy-six patients with reversible causes of AI were identified who had at least two SSTs performed.

How the Study Was Run

A retrospective analysis of 1912 SSTs data.

What Was Measured

There are many potentially reversible causes of adrenal insufficiency (AI), but no data to guide clinicians as to the frequency of repeat testing or likelihood of HPA axis recovery.

The subject headings attached to it are Adrenal Insufficiency, Adrenocorticotropic Hormone, Hydrocortisone, Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System, Pituitary-Adrenal Function Tests, Pituitary-Adrenal System and Prognosis.

What This Means in Plain Language

This is an observational study of ACTH (Corticotropin) and Cosyntropin.

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 2018 (The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism), a journal based in United States.

More context: the ACTH (Corticotropin) compound page and the Cosyntropin compound page, all human trials.