Cushing's syndrome associated with thymic tumour in a 32 year old Zambian African female

Abstract

As early as 1928 Brown noticed the association of Cushing's Syndrome with Bronchial Carcinoma.Since then, similar cases have been recorded by different authors with increasing frequency. Biochemical and bioassay techniques have left little doubt that under these circumstances the adrenal hypersecretion responsible for the Gushing Syndrome is the result of stimulation of Adrenocorticotrophin (ACTH) or by an adrenocorticotrophin-like hormone elaborated by the malignant cells themselves. Recently, extra-adrenal carcinomas, especially those arising from thymus, the ovaries and the pancreas have been shown to produce similar adrenal hyperactivity with overt clinical and biochemical Cushing's Syndrome. To the best of our knowledge, however, none of these conditions have been described in the Southern African or Zambian Medical Literature.