BMJ  2005;330 (5 February), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7486.0-c

Drug interactions may cause misdiagnosis of Cushing's syndrome

In screening patients for Cushing's syndrome, be aware of potential drug interactions with dexamethasone, as they may lead to false positive results on the screening test, the overnight 1 mg dexamethasone suppression test. Ma and colleagues (p 299) report on two patients who were investigated with a provisional diagnosis of Cushing's syndrome after they both showed failure of suppression on the test. However, both patients were taking carbamazepine at the time, one for epilepsy and the other for trigeminal neuralgia.

Credit: CNRI/SPL

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Carbamazepine and false positive dexamethasone suppression tests for Cushing's syndrome

Ronald C W Ma, Wing Bun Chan, Wing Yee So, Peter C Y Tong, Juliana C N Chan, and Chun Chung Chow
BMJ 2005 330: 299-300. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]