[Antidiuretic hormone in patients with bronchial carcinoma (author's transl)]

Antidiuretic hormone (ADH) was determined by radioimmunoassay in 139 patients with bronchial carcinoma. Serum ADH levels, compared with a control group, were increased in 30% of patients with small-cell and 21% of patients with large-cell bronchial carcinoma. Patients with squamous carcinoma or adenocarcinoma had normal ADH values. There was no correlation between serum ADH levels and stage of tumour. Serial ADH measurements during chemotherapy provided good correlation between ADH and response to treatment. ADH was also demonstrable by immunohistology in the tumour cells of one patient with increased serum levels.