Exacerbation of Cushing's Syndrome During Pregnancy: Report of a Case

A young woman is presented in whom a clinical and laboratory picture of classical Cushing's syndrome developed during pregnancy. Post-partum, all signs and symptoms of the disease disappeared, and baseline urinary steroid excretion generally became normal. Because of the persistence of abnormal diurnal plasma “cortisol” levels and the failure to suppress the urinary excretion of steroids with dexamethasone, surgery was performed. Bilateral adrenal hyperplasia was found on both light and electron microscopy.