Growth-hormone releasing hormone in a bronchial carcinoid

✍ Scribed by Rudolf M. Huber; Jochen Schopohl; Marco Losa; Gernot Wolfram; Olaf Thetter; Willibald Permanetter; Klaus V. Werder

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1991
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 582 KB
• Volume: 67
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0008-543X
• DOI: 10.1002/1097-0142(19910515)67:10<2538::aid-cncr2820671025>3.0.co;2-a

✦ Synopsis

The case is reported of a 43-year-old patient with a peripherally located bronchial carcinoid tumor containing large amounts of immunoreactive and bioactive growth-hormone releasing hormone (GHRH). Because no GHRH was found in the peripheral circulation, there was no quantitative or qualitative derangement of growth-hormone secretion. The tumor was excised completely by thoracotomy. Cancer 679538-2542,1991.

RONCHIAL CARCINOIDS can secrete t u m o r markers B like hormones which may or may not lead to clinical symptoms. One of the tumor markers secreted by pulmonary nodules is growth-hormone releasing h o r m o n e ( G H R H ) which may cause acromegaly,'.' although ectopic production of GHRH as a cause of acromegaly is less than l%.3 We report on a 43-year-old w o m a n in whom a bronchial carcinoid of the peripheral type was diagnosed by bronchoscopy. Although this patient had no clinical symptoms which might have been attributed to elevated GH levels, the tumor was found to harbor large amounts of biologically active GHRH.

Case Report

The 43-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital because she complained of persistent coughing after a cold 4 weeks before. She was in good physical and mental condition. Ten years ago she stopped occasional smoking. She worked as a salesperson.

There was no known exposure to toxic or carcinogenic substances and no family history of cancer. Her weight was 68 kg and height 160 cm. With the exception of a small diffuse goiter, there was no pathologic clinical finding; in particular no clinical chest ab- normality and no clinical signs of acromegaly were found.

Chest radiography revealed a nodule with the density of soft tissue near the right margin of the heart that appeared to have smooth borders by tomography. It was 13 to 16 cm deep within From the 'Medizinische Klinik Innenstadt,