[Functional state of the adrenals in lung cancer]

Catecholamines and cortisol in blood were studied in 91 lung cancer patients and in 11 patients with benign neoplasms in the lung. The investigation peformed has shown a certain dependence between the process stage and the sympatho-adrenal system functioning. Total amount of catecholamines is increased as the disease progresses, reaching the maximum at stage III and is sharply decreased at stage IV. A correlation between adrenaline and noradrenaline is changed in favour of a relative predominance of the adrenal link in the sympatho-adrenal system. The cortisol level during the malignant tumor growth is changed in an undular fashion and is mostly raised in patients with stage I and II. The development of metastases is associated with some tendency toward raising catecholamines level and lowering the functional activity of the adrenal cortex.