High positive predictive value of the combined pituitary dynamic enhanced MRI and high-dose dexamethasone suppression tests in the diagnosis of Cushing’s disease bypassing bilateral inferior petrosal sinus sampling

The purpose of the study is to evaluate the positive predictive value of the combined pituitary dynamic enhanced MRI (dMRI) and high-dose dexamethasone suppression tests (HDDST) in the diagnosis of Cushing’s disease (CD) bypassing bilateral inferior petrosal sinus sampling (BIPSS). A total of 118 patients with Cushing’s syndrome (CS), who underwent pituitary dMRI, HDDST and BIPSS were included. Positive predictive value of pituitary dMRI, HDDST, BIPSS and the combined test were calculated and tumor lateralization accuracy was further analyzed. The positive predictive value of the combined pituitary dMRI and HDDST was 98.6%, higher than that of BIPSS. There were 96.8% of patients, who had either negative findings in pituitary dMRI or HDDST, showing centralizing BIPSS results. For tumor lateralization, the accuracy by pituitary dMRI was 88.6%, whereas BIPSS was 57.5%. Therefore, CS patients with both positive findings in pituitary dMRI and HDDST need no further invasive evaluation to establish the definite diagnosis of CD. BIPSS will improve the diagnostic accuracy when negative findings were found in either pituitary dMRI or HDDST.