Thomas Addison's disease after 154 years: modern diagnostic perspectives on an old condition.

Thomas Addison was first to describe adrenocortical failure in 1855. Despite advances in the treatment of this condition, the diagnosis is still often delayed and sometimes missed with potentially fatal consequences. From the same institution where Thomas Addison performed his original autopsy studies, we present four recent cases highlighting the wide clinical spectrum and discuss how modern biochemical and immunological tests could be utilized in early diagnosis and aetiological classification.