Hypothesis: A cortisol response to adrenocorticotropin injection is the standard test for diagnosing adrenal insufficiency. Multiple steroid hormones can now be accurately measured by tandem mass spectrometry in a single sample. The study objective was to determine whether a steroid profile, created by simultaneous measurement of 10 steroid hormones by tandem mass spectrometry, would help determine the cause of adrenal insufficiency.
Design: A 10-steroid profile was measured by tandem mass spectrometry during the performance of a standard high dose cortrosyn stimulation test. The steroids were measured at baseline, 30, and 60min following synthetic adrenocorticotropin injection. Adrenal insufficiency was defined as a peak cortisol level of less than 20microg/dL. Testing was conducted in the general clinical research center of a university medical center. Normal volunteers, patients suspected of having adrenal insufficiency, and patients with known adrenal insufficiency participated.
Results: Our results showed that adrenal insufficiency of any cause was adequately diagnosed using the response of 11-deoxycortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone, or these analytes combined in a two-steroid profile. A three-steroid profile yielded a test with 100% accuracy for discriminating primary adrenal insufficiency from normal status. Primary adrenal insufficiency was well separated from secondary adrenal insufficiency using only a single aldosterone value. 11-Deoxycortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone, and a two-steroid profile each provided fair discrimination between secondary adrenal insufficiency and normal status.
Conclusions: We conclude that stimulated levels of aldosterone, 11-deoxycortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone, and a two- or three-steroid profile provided additional discrimination between states of adrenal sufficiency and insufficiency. It is proposed that a steroid profile measuring cortisol, aldosterone, 11-deoxycortisol, and dehydroepiandrosterone would potentially improve the ability to determine the cause of adrenal insufficiency.