Pseudo-cushing : a clinical challenge?

The distinction between Cushing's syndrome and pseudo-Cushing is a major clinical challenge. Indeed, any endocrinologist used to dealing with Cushing's syndrome has certainly faced this dilemma more than once and is aware that there are no clear-cut solutions. Several factors contribute to this ongoing quandary, such as unbalanced epidemiology, overlap in clinical features and inherent variability in test responses. Thus, extreme care has to be taken in both excluding and confirming Cushing's syndrome in patients with mild clinical features and borderline laboratory alterations.