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Cushing’s Syndrome

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Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology

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Short Description or Definition

Endogenous Cushing’s syndrome (CS) is a rare disorder occurring in about 0.7–2.4 per million population per year (Newell-Price, Bertagna, Grossman, & Nieman, 2006). CS includes symptoms and signs resulting from chronic supraphysiological exposure to glucocorticoids (GC). The classical clinical features of CS are centripetal obesity with abnormal fat distribution, mainly affecting the face, neck, trunk, and abdomen, and sparing the extremities. Other findings are facial plethora, easy bruisability, purple abdominal striae, hirsutism, muscle weakness, hypertension, and glucose intolerance (Stewart, 2008). In addition, mood alterations and psychiatric diseases – mainly depressive and anxiety disorders – as well as cognitive impairment are highly prevalent in CS patients (Bourdeau et al., 2005).

The principal aim of this chapter is to present psychiatric and cognitive data on adult patients with CS. The recognition of psychoneurological abnormalities...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Centre, CHUM, Hôtel-Dieu, 3850, rue Saint-Urbain, H2W 1T7, Montréal, QC, Canada

    Isabelle Bourdeau

  2. Université du Québec en Outaouais, Département de psychoéducation et de psychologie, Gatineau, QC, Canada

    Hélène Forget

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  1. Isabelle Bourdeau
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  2. Hélène Forget
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and Professor of Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry Virginia Commonwealth University – Medical Center Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, VCU, 980542, Richmond, Virginia, 23298-0542, USA

    Jeffrey S. Kreutzer

  2. Kessler Foundation Research Center, 1199 Pleasant Valley Way, West Orange, NJ, 07052, USA

    John DeLuca

  3. Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and Neurology and Neuroscience, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey – New Jersey Medical School, New Jersey, USA

    John DeLuca

  4. Independent Practice, 564 M.O.B. East, 100 E. Lancaster Ave., Wynnewood, PA, 19096, USA

    Bruce Caplan

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Bourdeau, I., Forget, H. (2011). Cushing’s Syndrome. In: Kreutzer, J.S., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79948-3_548

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79948-3_548

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-387-79947-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-387-79948-3

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