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Start free with EleplanCushing disease
ORPHA:96253Disease
Also called Corticotroph pituitary adenoma · Pituitary corticotroph micro-adenoma · Pituitary-dependent Cushing syndrome
What it is
A form of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)-dependent Cushing syndrome, an endogenous Cushing syndrome (CS), characterized by chronic over-secretion of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) due to a pituitary corticotroph adenoma.
Key facts
- Prevalence
- 1-9 / 100 000 (Europe)
- Age of onset
- Adult
- Inheritance
- Not applicable
- Classified as
- Disease
Prevalence figures describe populations, not individuals, and are often estimates from a single study. Where the figure is an incidence or a birth prevalence, it says so.
Signs and symptoms
Very common80–99%
4Common30–79%
32- Abdominal obesity
- Abnormality of the cardiovascular system
- Acne
- Adrenal hyperplasia
- Amenorrhea
- Atypical behavior
- Bruising susceptibility
- Capillary fragility
- Decreased eosinophil count
- Diabetes mellitus
- Dorsocervical fat pad
- Emotional lability
- Fatiguable weakness of proximal limb muscles
- Hirsutism
- Hyperpigmentation of the skin
- Hypertension
- Immunodeficiency
- Impaired glucose tolerance
- Increased body weight
- Increased circulating ACTH level
- Increased total leukocyte count
- Intra-oral hyperpigmentation
- Lymphopenia
- Moon facies
- Muscle weakness
- Osteoporosis
- Plethora
- Poor wound healing
- Proximal amyotrophy
- Striae distensae
- Thin skin
- Truncal obesity
Sometimes5–29%
20- Abnormality of the respiratory system
- Abnormal libido
- Depression
- Ecchymosis
- Flushing
- Headache
- Large sella turcica
- Livedo reticularis
and 12 more in this range
These ranges are how often a sign appears across everyone diagnosed, not a prediction for one person — most people have some of these and not others. Orphanet also records findings that are specifically absent in this disease; those are in the data but not listed here.
Genes
ICD-10 codes
ICD-10 has no distinct code for most rare diseases, so many are filed under the nearest available one. A shared code identifies the group, not this disease — the ORPHAcode above is what identifies it.
Related health topics
Reached through the ICD-10 categories this disease is filed under, so these describe the broader group rather than this disease specifically.
Cross-references
Orphadata Science: Free access data from Orphanet. © INSERM 1999. Data version 2026-06-23. Available under CC BY 4.0. This is a reference, not medical advice.
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