Whole Blood Viscosity as a Marker of Thrombosis in Cushing’s Disease: An Actor or Ineffective Factor

Abstract

Objective: There is a tendency for thromboembolic events (TE) in Cushing’s disease (CD) because of the cortisol excess itself andassociated risk factors for TE. Whole blood viscosity (WBV) as a measure of hemorheological features may impact the developmentof TE. However, limited data are available on the status of these changes in CD. Herein, we aimed to compare WBV between patients with CD and the control group and evaluate the impact of CD treatment on WBV.Methods: A total of 34 patients with CD without prior TE history and 30 subjects as the control group were enrolled between 2015and 2020. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory characteristics of the study groups were recorded. WBV was calculated using thede Simone formula.Results: Among the corticotroph pituitary adenomas of the CD group, 32 of 34 were microadenomas, and 2 were macroadenomas.Postoperative remission was achieved in all patients. However, a recurrence was observed in 10 patients at 5.8±3.2 year follow-up.There was no difference between baseline WBV, at both low and high shear rates, between the CD and control groups (p>0.05).Furthermore, the WBVs at both low and high shear rates were also similar before and after treatment in the CD group (16.3±1.8versus 15.4±1.7, p=0.2, for WBV at the high shear rate; 40.5±38.2 versus 25.4±35.2, p=0.23, at the low shear rate).Conclusion: In this small-sized preliminary study, the WBV at both shear rates revealed no difference between the CD and controlgroups. There was also no impact of CD treatment on WBV at follow-up. However, further large-scale studies are necessary toconfirm our study findings.