Lung cancer: Hormonal (endocrine) syndromes
Certain types of lung cancers are capable of producing hormones that act on organs within the brain (the pituitary and hypothalamus) or upon other organs such as the kidneys, adrenal glands, thyroid, ovaries, or testes.
• Syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone (SIADH), resulting in low levels of sodium in the blood, often is associated with small cell lung cancer and sometimes bronchial carcinoid tumors.
Symptoms include:
° Fatigue
° Loss of appetite
° Muscle cramps or weakness
° Nausea
° Vomiting
° Restlessness and confusion
° Seizures
° Coma
° Respiratory arrest
° High blood calcium levels (hypercalcemia).
Symptoms are: loss of appetite (anorexia), nausea and vomiting, lethargy and weakness, irritability, frequent urination (polyuria), excessive thirst (polydipsia), dehydration, constipation, cardiac symptoms such as irregular pulse, and confusion and coma in acute stages. • Cushing’s syndrome, an overproduction of adrenal hormones by cancerous tissue.
The most common symptoms in lung cancer patients are:
° Weight loss
° Fluid retention (edema)
° Muscle weakness (myopathy)
° High blood pressure (hypertension)
° Less common Cushing’s symptoms in lung cancer patients are stretch marks (striae), obesity in the trunk with thinning of arms and legs, moon-shaped face, fatty hump on the back of the neck (“buffalo hump”), bone loss, diabetes, and moodiness.
• Carcinoid syndrome, characterized by skin flushing, diarrhea, and wheezing or asthma symptoms
• High or low blood sugar (hyper- or hypoglycemia)
• Breast growth in males (gynecomastia)
• Discharge of milk from the nipple (galactorrhea)
• Excess levels of growth hormone, possibly linked
to excessive bone growth or clubbing of fingers
• Excess calcitonin secretion, usually symptomless
• Excess levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone,
possibly causing symptoms of hyperthyroidism
such as high blood pressure, heat intolerance,
hair loss, moodiness, weight loss.