No significant difference has been demonstrated in the altered circadian blood pressure pattern between the pituitary-dependent and adrenal forms of Cushing's syndrome before surgery. The effect of therapy, however, proved to be different. The mesor was normalized in the pituitary-dependent Cushing's syndrome more conspicuously for systolic than for diastolic blood pressure. In Cushing's syndrome due to adrenal adenoma, systolic and diastolic blood pressure mesors have been even significantly "overnormalized" after treatment, being 11 to 27 and 2 to 13 mmHg (95% confidence) lower than corresponding mesors in controls. There was no difference between forms in the effect of treatment on blood pressure amplitudes, which remained significantly lower than in controls. Finally, acrophase patterns were partly normalized after treatment of the pituitary-dependent form only for diastolic blood pressure, while both systolic and diastolic blood pressure acrophases were normalized in the treated adrenal form. In conclusion, complete normalization of the pattern of daily blood pressure profile has not been achieved in either form of the syndrome. This may be one of the reasons for the reduced long-term survival after surgical cure of hypercortisolism, than expected.
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