Case Report
Dilated Cardiomyopathy as the Predominant Feature of Cushing’s Syndrome

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Abstract

Cushing’s syndrome, resulting from exposure to excessive amounts of circulating glucocorticoids, is accompanied with a high mortality risk mostly due to the cardiovascular complications. Cardiac involvement is mainly associated with left ventricular hypertrophy. We report the case of a patient who presented with dilated cardiomyopathy as the predominant feature of Cushing’s syndrome, which was fully reversed after proper surgical treatment.

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CASE REPORT

A 43-year-old, obese woman was referred to our Cardiology Department with dyspnea, tachypnea, and peripheral edema, started 6 months before and gradually worsened. She also reported a 15-kg weight gain, depressive disorder, hirsutism and amenorrhea over the last 3 years.

On physical examination, central truncal obesity was noted (body mass index: 35.5 kg/m2, waist circumference: 112 cm), blood pressure was 150/80 mm Hg, pulse rate was regular at 116 per min, and there was pitting edema of the lower

DISCUSSION

We report a patient with CS due to an adrenal adenoma presented with DC as the dominant feature, which was fully reversed after the successful treatment of CS, suggesting the etiological link between hypercortisolism and DC development.

CS is associated with a high mortality rate mostly due to cardiovascular complications. Cardiac involvement is well established but mainly in the form of LVH.3., 4. A number of possible pathogenetic mechanisms have been proposed, including the direct effect of

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