In the past few years, with the widespread use of chest and abdominal imaging, the prevalence of adrenal incidentaloma (AIs) has been increasing and now approaches the 8.7% incidence reported in autopsy series. subclinical hypercortisolism (SH) is noted in up to 30% of patients with adrenal incidentalomas. Several groups have reported adverse clinical sequelae in individuals with SH, with recent studies highlighting an increase in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality compared to the general population. Accurate exclusion or confirmation of a diagnosis of SH is therefore a key step in the investigation and management of patients with AIs. Suppressed adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and low dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) levels are frequently found in SH patients. Present study added new evidence for the limitations of ACTH and confirmed the usefulness of DHEAS for the detection of SH especially with unsuppressed ACTH in AI patients. On one hand, in the cross-sectional study, biometric measurements and sex hormones (including DHEAS, 24h-UFC, ACTH and cortisol) are analysed to explore the differences among SH patients, and nonfunctional adrenal adenoma patients. One the other hand, in the longitudinal study, changes in DHEAS, ACTH and cortisol in SH with surgical management and SH with conservative management both at baseline and different follow-up months after their different treatment management are collected to explore the changes of DHEAS and ACTH of SH patients.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the serum dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate in subclinical hypercortisolism