Prostatic carcinoma producing syndrome of inappropriate secretion of antidiuretic hormone

The syndrome of inappropriate secretion of antidiuretic hormone was recognized in a sixty-year-old man with a poorly differentiated metastatic adenocarcinoma of the prostate gland. Elevated levels of antidiuretic hormone were found in the patient's serum and in the prostatic tumor but not in the cerebrospinal fluid. The patient's clinical course is detailed, and the pathophysiology of this syndrome is discussed.