Assessing the hair for the presence of the stress hormone cortisol may prove effective in diagnosing Cushing Syndrome, according to a new study published in the journal Endocrine.
Cushing Syndrome is a rare and potentially fatal hormonal disorder in which the body overproduces cortisol. Identifying the condition can require blood and urine tests, brain imaging tests and tissue samples from the sinuses. The process can take as long as 24 hours.
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For the study, researchers collected hair, blood and urine samples from 30 patients with Cushing Syndrome and six patients without the condition. The research team found cortisol assessments of hair samples closely aligned with test results obtained from urine and blood samples in patients with Cushing Syndrome.
"Our results are encouraging," said the study's senior author Mihail Zilbermint, MD, an endocrinologist at the National Institutes of Health's Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. "We are hopeful that hair analysis may ultimately prove useful as a less-invasive screening test for Cushing Syndrome or in helping to confirm the diagnosis."
Due to the limited number of participants, further research will be needed to confirm the clinical validity of the new testing method.
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