Find the Glossary here: http://www.cushings-help.com/definitions.htm
Some abbreviations used on the message boards, articles and throughout the bios are…
Abx: Antibiotic
ACTH: Adrenocorticotropic Hormone. ACTH is a normal by-product of the anterior pituitary gland. It acts by controlling the secretion of the adrenal hormone, cortisol. Produced by the pituitary gland. A pituitary tumor often causes too little ACTH to be produced. Symptoms of ACTH deficiency include weakness, fatigue and gastrointestinal disturbances.
AD: Addison’s/Adrenal Disease
ADH: AntiDiuretic Hormone. ADH is a critical hormone that regulates water balance in the body by controlling how much water the kidneys release into the urine. Too much ADH secretion by the pituitary causes the syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone (SIADH), in which the salt levels in the body can drop dangerously low due to holding on to too much water. Treatments may include fluid restriction and salt supplementation. Too little ADH results in diabetes insipidus (DI), in which the body constantly produces a clear high volume of urine accompanied by extreme thirst. The treatment is fluids and a medicine called DDAVP.
AHRQ: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
AI: Adrenal Insufficiency/adrenal crisis. Adrenal insufficiency is a life threatening chronic illness. An active and vigorous lifestyle with normal life expectancy is possible as long as the prescribed medications are taken regularly and adjusted when indicated. As with most chronic diseases, adrenal insufficiency demands that the patients take responsibility and develop self-management skills and techniques.
APACHE: Acute physiology and chronic health evaluation
BG: Blood Glucose
BIPSS: Bilateral Inferior Petrosal Sinus Sampling
BLA: Bilateral adrenalectomy. Surgical removal of both the adrenal glands.
BMD: Is often used as an acronym for bone mineral density
BP: Blood Pressure
BS: Blood Sugar (ahem…usually)
BUN: Blood Urea Nitrogen
Ca: calcium
CAT Scan / CT: computed tomography
CBG: corticosteroid-binding globulin
CD: Cushing’s Disease
CCHS: Congenital central hypoventilation syndrome
CI: Confidence interval
CIRCI: Critical illness-related corticosteroid insufficiency
CRH: Corticotropin Releasing Hormone
CRP: C-reactive protein
CS: Cushing’s Syndrome
CSF: cerebrospinal fluid
DEXA: dual energy x-ray absorptiometry
DI: Diabetes Insipidus
DST: dexamethasone suppression test(s)
Dx: diagnosis
EAA: excitatory amino acid
EAS: ectopic ACTH secretion
EBV: Epstein Barr virus
FSH: follicle-stimulating hormone
GABA: y-aminobutyric acid
GH: Growth Hormone
GI: gastrointestinal
GTT: glucose tolerance test
GTR: gross-total resection
HC: hydrocortisone
hGH: Human Growth Hormone
HPLC: (high performance liquid chromatography) is mass spectrometry. It is a way to take a liquid sample and get it into a mass spectrometer to analyze the sample. The liquid chromatograph is the attachment on the mass spec that does this. It can be done several different ways. But always these are just the machines used to do the job.
HPA: hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal
HPLC: high-pressure liquid chromatography
HRT: Hormone Replacement Therapy
ICD-9: International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision
IGF-1: (also known as Serum IGF-1 or Somatomedin C) is a polypeptide hormone. It belongs to a family of peptides whose levels are regulated by growth hormone (GH) through receptors. IGF-1 is secreted mainly by the liver and has potent growth stimulating activity. Its mitogenic activity has caused interest in its possible role in cancer growth but its present clinical use is for the diagnosis of human growth disorders. Less than 5% of IGF-1 is free and the rest is bound to IGF-binding proteins (IGFBP). The major one in circulation is IGFBP-3.
IPS/P: inferior petrosal sinus-to-peripheral ratio
IPSS: Inferior Petrosal Sinus Sampling
ITT: Insulin Tolerance Test
JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association. JAMA began publication in 1883. It now bills itself as “the world’s best-read medical journal”. However one defines “best-read”, JAMA clearly ranks as one of the two leading general medical journals published in the United States. (The other is the New England Journal of Medicine.)
K: potassium
LINAC: linear accelerator
LH: luteinizing hormone
LO-CHS late-onset central hypoventilation syndrome
LOS: length of stay
LTP: long-term potentiation
MR / MRI: magnetic resonance (imaging)
MSC: Midnight Salivary Cortisol
MSH: melanocyte-stimulating hormone
Na: sodium
NFPMA: nonfunctioning pituitary macroadenoma
NIS: Nationwide Inpatient Sample
NS: Nelson syndrome
OR: odds ratio
PCOS: Polycystic Ovary Syndrome
PFS: progression-free survival
Pheo: A pheochromocytoma is a tumor that originates from the adrenal gland’s chromaffin cells, causing overproduction of catecholamines, powerful hormones that induce high blood pressure and other symptoms.
PHOX2B: Paired-like homeobox 2B
PICC Line: A PICC line (Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter) is a semi-permanent IV line), which is inserted into a large vein, usually in your arm although other places may be used. This will allow fluids and injections to be given, and blood samples to be taken. It will save you the discomfort of repeated sticks.
PPNAD aka Primary pigmented nodular adrenocortical disease: A rare disease of the adrenal glands. The adrenal glands are small glands located above each kidney. The adrenals make hormones. Hormones are chemical substances formed in one organ or part of the body that travel in the blood to other body parts where they influence how that body part works. Cortisol is one of the hormones made by the adrenals. Cortisol influences body metabolism (how the body converts small molecules to large and vice versa) and can decrease inflammation. People with PPNAD have adrenal glands that make too much cortisol or make it at inappropriate times (when the body does not need it).
PSS: Petrosal Sinus Sampling
RIA: radioimmunoassay
QOL: quality of life
ROHHAD: Rapid-Onset Obesity With Hypothalamic Dysfunction, Hypoventilation, and Autonomic Dysregulation Presenting in Childhood
SIADH: Syndrome of Inappropriate AntiDiuretic Hormone
SPGR: spoiled gradient recalled acquisition in the steady-state
SRS: stereotactic radiosurgery
STR: subtotal resection
TBA: total bilateral adrenalectomy
TSA / TSS: transsphenoidal adenomectomy
TSH: thyroid-stimulating hormone
TSR: transsphenoidal resection
UFC: Urinary Free Cortisol