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Endocrine Autonomy

Meaning

Endocrine autonomy describes a pathological condition where a hormone-secreting gland or tissue initiates and sustains the secretion of its specific hormone entirely independent of the normal physiological feedback loops that are meant to regulate its production. This unconstrained, self-governing secretion inevitably results in the chronic, excessive overproduction of the hormone, irrespective of the body’s actual homeostatic needs or the suppressive signals from the pituitary or hypothalamus. Classic clinical examples include autonomous cortisol secretion from an adrenal adenoma or the unregulated parathyroid hormone production in primary hyperparathyroidism.