Use of adrenal arterial embolization in severe ACTH-dependent Cushing's syndrome.

The management of a patient with severe Cushing's syndrome due to ectopic ACTH produced by a medullary carcinoma of the thyroid is described. Initial treatment with maximal adrenolytic medical therapy and two attempts at bilateral adrenal venous infarction had failed to control the disease, and she was at that time unfit for surgery. Subsequent use of bilateral adrenal arterial embolization enabled medical therapy to produce sufficient control of the Cushing's syndrome to allow bilateral adrenalectomy to be performed successfully, with resultant cure of the excessive cortisol production.