Adrenocortical Hyperfunction Associated with Bronchogenic Carcinoma: Report of Five Cases

Five patients with bronchogenic carcinoma associated with adrenocortical hyperfunction are described. The clinical features, laboratory studies and autopsy findings are discussed and compared with previously reported cases. Four patients presented most of the typical features of this disorder as previously described, whereas the fifth was atypical in some respects. Typical features included: acute onset of adrenocortical hyperfunction in a middle-aged male, rapid downhill course, slight or absent physical signs of Cushing''s syndrome, frequently impaired glucose tolerance, markedly elevated plasma and urinary 17-hydroxycorticosteroids not suppressed by exogenous steroids, absent diurnal variation of plasma corticoids, hypokalemic alkalosis with normal aldosterone excretion, and tumour histology of the oat cell variety. The adrenal glands of two patients were of normal or slightly increased weight, and mean 17-ketosteroid excretion values were normal in three; this contrasts with the marked increase in adrenal weight and 17-ketosteroid excretion in most reported cases.     

A Spontaneous Bronchogenic Carcinoma in a Sykes Monkey (Cercopithecus mitis stuhlmani)

A male blue monkey (Cercopithecus mitis stuhlmani), a subspecies of the Sykes group, was purchased from a commercial trapper as an adult in July 1978 and kept at the Institute of Primate Research, Kenya, for 2 years. The animal developed acute respiratory distress and died. Small nodular foci were found in the lung at necropsy and diagnosed as bronchogenic carcinoma on histopathology.