8282 A Diagnostically Challenging Case of Ectopic ACTH Secreting Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumor Presenting with Cushing’s Syndrome
Authors: Aluko Oluwatomisin A , Patel Shivani , Silparshetty Santh V S , Gallagher Thomas 
Published: October 2024

Disclosure: O.A. Aluko: None. S. Patel: None. S.V. Silparshetty: None. T. Gallagher: None.

Introduction: Ectopic ACTH mediated Cushing’s syndrome is an uncommon but treatable condition that poses time constrained diagnostic and therapeutic challenge due to severe morbidity as illustrated by our case below. Clinical case:A 65-year-old male was admitted with profound generalized weakness. He became restricted to wheelchair from being able to hike a trail at Yosemite national park 8 weeks prior. Recent history included hospitalization with uncontrolled diabetes and hypertension, new vertebral compression fractures, AKI, hypokalemia, proximal myopathy, anasarca, upper GI bleed and acute upper extremity DVT. Initial testing there revealed hypercortisolemia, elevated ACTH and a normal pituitary MRI. Further workup at our center revealed elevated 24hr urinary cortisol 2598 (n = 5 - 64 μg/24hr), random cortisol 55 (n= 4.2 -22.4 μg/dL) with elevated ACTH 194 (n= 7.2 - 63.3 pg/mL) consistent with ACTH dependent hypercortisolism. IPSS deferred due to AKI, underlying comorbidities and severe cervical stenosis with myelopathy. ACTH and cortisol remained elevated with an 8mg dexamethasone suppression test suggesting ectopic source ACTH. CT with contrast of chest, abdomen and pelvis showed 5mm right lower lobe lung nodule and bilateral adrenal nodularity. Bronchoscopic FNAC was negative for NET.Ketoconazole 400 mg twice daily was started pending localization of culprit lesion with improvement in 24 hr urinary cortisol to 554μg/24 hr however this was stopped within 4 weeks due to acute transaminasemia. Repeat imaging with Gallium-68 dotatate PET CT showed a 1.8 X 2.4 X 1.7 cm pancreatic mass. He underwent distal pancreatectomy with splenectomy. Pathology confirmed a 2.2cm well differentiated neuroendocrine tumor limited to the pancreas with immunohistochemistry strongly for ACTH and weakly for Gastrin. Postoperatively, patient was given hydrocortisone replacement. ACTH was 14.3 pg/mL and cortisol 6.2μg/dL a few weeks later. His diabetes, hypertension, hypokalemia, transaminasemia and proximal myopathy improved. Discussion:Ectopic ACTH mediated Cushing’s syndrome is responsible for about 5 - 20% of all Cushing’s syndrome cases. Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor secreting Ectopic ACTH is rarer but can be aggressive. Clinical presentation can be confounding due to secretion of &gt;1 neurohormone i.e ACTH and Gastrin in our patient. Gallium-DOTATATE PET/CT tracer has a very high sensitivity and specificity. Early use of this imaging may prevent comorbidity and mortality as surgical resection of ectopic ACTH secreting neuroendocrine tumor is first line therapy. Other diagnostic principles to consider are that severely elevated ACTH levels correlate only with a pituitary macroadenoma, IPSS is invasive and has relative contraindication in sick patients and Desmopressin stimulation test is not widely available.

Presentation: 6/1/2024