Addison’s disease informations

December 30th, 2011 by lu | Posted in General |

Morbidity and mortality associated with Addison disease usually are due to failure or delay in making the diagnosis or a failure to institute adequate glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid replacement. The frequency rate of addison’s disease in the human population is sometimes estimated at roughly 1 in 100,000.
ACTH stimulation test involves measuring the level of cortisol in your blood before and after an injection of synthetic ACTH. ACTH signals your adrenal glands to produce cortisol. If adrenal glands are damaged, the ACTH stimulation test shows that your output of cortisol in response to synthetic ACTH is limited or nonexistent.
The subunit ACTH undergoes further cleavage to produce Alpha-MSH, the most important MSH for skin pigmentation. In secondary and tertiary forms of Addison’s, skin darkening does not occur.