A Case of Small Cell Carcinoma of the Lung Producing ADH, ACTH, MSH and Calcitonin: Successful Treatment of Severe Hyponatremia with Furosemide and Hypertonic Saline

A 48-year-old man with a small cell carcinoma of the lung presentedhyponatremia and was diagnosed as having the syndrome of inappropriateADH secretion. A plasma ADH bioassay confirmed this syndrome.During the clinical course, the patient developed a hyponatremiccrisis with a serum sodium of 108mEq/l. His hyponatremia wasrapidly corrected by infusing furosemide in conjunction withhypertonic saline. The postmortem studies demonstrated ADH bioactivityin the tumor tissues, as well as immunoreactive ACTH, ß-MSHand calcitonin. Tumor hypersecretion of ACTH appeared to bethe cause of the patient's hyperresponsiveness to exogenousACTH and of the bilateral adrenocortical hyperplasia observedat the time of autopsy. Therefore, this was a case of a multiple hormone-producing smallcell carcinoma of the lung, in which the severe clinical manifestationsof SIADH were successfully treated with furosemide and hypertonicsaline.     

Tamoxifen in Advanced Breast Cancer; Response Rate, Effect on Pituitary Hormone Reserve and Binding Affinity to Estrogen Receptor

Patients with advanced breast cancer were treated with antiestrogen,tamoxifen, 20 mg orally, twice a day. Of the evaluable 23 patients,one achieved complete response with a duration of 16 months,and five achieved partial response lasting from two to eightmonths, indicating that the response rate was 26%. In the fiveperi-and postmenopausal patients, basal and LH-RH stimulatedplasma LH levels decreased but stayed within the postmenopausalrange in three patients during the tamoxifen therapy. Basaland LH-RH stimulated FSH levels decreased also but stayed withinthe postmenopausal range in all five patients. In a premenopausalpatient, basal and stimulated plasma LH and FSH levels did notchange significantly during the tamoxifen therapy. The plasmaTSH responses did not change significantly. In three of thesix patients, basal and TRH-stimulated prolactin levels decreasedslightly during the tamoxifen therapy. These relatively inconsistentand small changes in the pituitary hormone secretion observedduring the tamoxifen therapy suggest that the anti-tumor effectof tamoxifen was not due to alteration of the pituitary hormonesecretion. The binding of tamoxifen for the estrogen receptorwas examined in the estrogen receptor assay system. The doseresponse curve for tamoxifen was parallel to that for estradiol,indicating that tamoxifen competes with estradiol for the estrogenreceptor. The affinity constants of tamoxifen for the estrogenreceptor in eight cytosols of human breast cancer tissues were(139 ±79) X 10^–10M (mean±SD), indicatingthat the binding affinity of tamoxifen was about 0.7% that ofestradiol. The affinity constants for nuclear receptors weresimilar to those for cytosol receptors. These data suggest thattamoxifen is a useful drug for treatment of advanced breastcancer, and that the anti-tumor effect could be related to itsbinding to estrogen receptors in tumor tissues, and not causedby altering the secretion of pituitary hormones.     

婴幼儿肺炎治疗前后潮气呼吸肺功能指标的变化

目的：探讨婴幼儿肺炎治疗前后肺功能的变化。方法：采用潮气呼吸法测定58名1～40个月的肺炎婴幼儿流速 容量环(TFV)。以63名同龄健康儿童做对照。主要参数为：达峰时间(TPTEF),达峰时间比(TPTEF/TE),达峰容积(VPEF),达峰容积比(VPEF/VE),吸呼比(TI/TE),呼气峰流速(PEF),25%,50%或75%潮气量时的呼气流速(TEF 25%,TEF 50%,TEF 75%)。同时描绘出流速-容量环。结果：流速-容量环在健康儿童呈椭圆型,在肺炎治疗前呼气降支的斜率较健康儿童大,阻塞越重,斜率越大,甚至向内凹陷。肺炎治疗前患儿呼吸频率(RR)为(36±9)次/分,较同龄对照(30±8)次/分明显增快(P<0.01),吸气和呼气时间均缩短,但以前者更明显,吸呼比(TI/TE)降低。肺炎治疗前TPTEF(0.20±0.08) S和VPEF(17.2±10.9) ml也明显低于健康组［(0.40±0.16) S,(25.4±12.8) ml］。反映气道阻塞的指标：TPTEF/TE和VPEF/VE分别为(18.8±5.8)%和(22.1±4.6)%低于健康对照组［(33.0±7.54)%,(33.4±6.35)%］(P<0.01)。经治疗后,患儿呼吸频率逐渐下降为(33±11)次/分,TPTEF和VPEF均明显回升,TPTEF/TE,VPEF/VE显著增高为(26.2±8.7)%和(28.4±7.3)%(P<0.01),但仍低于健康儿童相应指标。结论：潮气呼吸测定能反映肺炎气道病变的程度及临床治疗的效果。