RT Journal Article
T1 Treatment and monitoring of naturally occurring Cushing’s syndrome by primary care veterinarians in selected European countries
A1 Carvalho, Miguel F
A1 Bennaim, Michael
A1 Golinelli, Stefania
A1 Fracassi, Federico
A1 Arenas, Carolina
A1 Pérez Alenza, María De Los Dolores
A1 Galac, Sara
A1 Mooney, Carmel T
A1 Leal, Rodolfo O
AB AbstractBackgroundTreatment of naturally occurring Cushing’s syndrome includes surgery or medical management but there is little information on how primary care veterinarians (PCVs) select and monitor such treatment.Hypothesis/ObjectivesDetermine how PCVs from selected European countries treat and monitor Cushing’s syndrome in dogs.MethodsCross-sectional survey study assessing treatment and monitoring protocols used by PCVs when managing dogs with Cushing’s syndrome.ResultsA total of 2178 responses from 9 European countries were included. Overall, 1694 (77.8%) respondents attempted to differentiate functional adrenal tumor (FAT) from pituitary-dependent hypercortisolism (PDH). Adrenalectomy and hypophysectomy were recommended in 67.8% and 30.5% dogs with FAT and PDH, respectively. When surgery was not considered, 23.9% of respondents did not always suggest medical management. Of those recommending medical treatment, 1895/2163 (87.6%) respondents used trilostane either once (60.7%) or twice (39.3%) daily. Time to first follow-up was < 10, 10-14, and 15-30 days for 6.1%, 59.8%, and 31.1% of respondents, respectively. Long-term follow-up was every 3-4 (41.7%) or 5-6 months (37.9%). Monitoring is performed using ACTH stimulation test (54.6%), pre-pill plasma cortisol concentration (18.4%), and both pre- and post-pill plasma cortisol concentration (13.3%).Conclusions and clinical importanceApproximately one-third of PCVs do not recommend adrenalectomy for FAT and two-thirds do not recommend hypophysectomy in PDH. Despite demonstrated benefits of medical treatment, one-quarter of respondents do not always recommend it, which may adversely affect life expectancy and quality of life. Treatment and monitoring protocols vary among PCVs. These results suggest that further education of PCVs about management of Cushing’s syndrome in dogs may be warranted.
PB Oxford University Press
SN 0891-6640
YR 2026
FD 2026
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/132336
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/132336
LA eng
NO Carvalho, M. F., Bennaim, M., Golinelli, S., Fracassi, F., Arenas, C., Pérez-Alenza, M., Galac, S., Mooney, C. T., & Leal, R. O. (2026). Treatment and monitoring of naturally occurring Cushing’s syndrome by primary care veterinarians in selected European countries. Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine, 40(1), aalaf069. https://doi.org/10.1093/jvimsj/aalaf069
NO Author contributionsMiguel Alexandre Fogaça Carvalho (Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing), Michael Bennaim (Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Project administration, Validation, Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing), Stefania Golinelli (Visualization, Writing—review & editing), Federico Fracassi (Visualization, Writing—review & editing), Carolina Arenas (Visualization, Writing—review & editing), Maria Pérez-Alenza (Visualization, Writing—review & editing), Sara Galac (Visualization, Writing—review & editing), Carmel Mooney (Visualization, Writing—review & editing), and Rodolfo Oliveira Leal (Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Project administration, Validation, Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing)
NO Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (Portugal)
DS Docta Complutense
RD 21 mar 2026