Harvey Cushing: Cushing's disease.

In 1932 Harvey Cushing published an article entitled 'Basophil adenomas of the pituitary and their clinical manifestations'. These are rare tumours of the anterior pituitary gland, at the base of the brain, with striking manifestations, which include adiposity of the face and trunk, but not the limbs, weakness, fatigue, abdominal striae, facial hair, high blood pressure and raised blood sugar. Although I spent two years in an army neurosurgical unit, I never saw a case. More frequently, the same clinical picture is produced by a benign adenoma of the suprarenal cortex, but today by far the commonest cause of this condition is seen in the patient receiving high dosage of cortisone, when we talk about the person exhibiting 'Cushingoid features'. Most readers of this journal will have seen such cases.