[Bioelectric activity of the brain and glucocorticoid production in patients with hematologic malignancies]

A parallel study of bioelectrical activity of the brain and urine excretion of 17-hydroxycorticosteroids was carried out in 107 patients with various malignant tumors of hemopoietic tissue before, during and after treatment. In all of them, electroencephalography showed excitation of the hypothalamus, the central component of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal system. Moreover, the patients revealed a significant increase in the excretion of 17-hydroxycorticosteroids that pointed to the activation of the peripheral component--the adrenal cortex. Activation of both central and peripheral components suggests that its intermediate component--the pituitary--is activated in patients with hemopoietic system neoplasms, too.