Adrenocortical function in bronchogenic carcinoma: study of 100 patients

Our plain-English summary of Adrenocortical function in bronchogenic carcinoma: study of 100 patients, by H. B. Hatch, A. Segaloff, A. Ochsner (1965).

The study

• Authors: H. B. Hatch, A. Segaloff, A. Ochsner
• Published: 1965
• Type of article: Journal article
• Our copy: from Johns-Manville's own medical library. The article is still under copyright, so we describe it here rather than post it.

In plain English

This article reported a study of adrenal gland function in 100 patients with bronchogenic carcinoma (lung cancer). The badly damaged scan appears to say that four of the patients were women and the rest were men. The article does not mention asbestos or any work exposure. The authors measured corticoid hormones in the blood of each patient, and 61 patients also had a Kepler water loading test of adrenal function. Seventy-one patients had raised plasma corticoid levels. Only one patient had Cushing's syndrome. The authors found little correlation between the plasma corticoid level and the Kepler test result, and they said this showed the importance of doing more than one adrenal test. They reported that, since they began using the Kepler test, they had had no deaths after surgery that were caused by adrenal insufficiency. The authors concluded that the Kepler test was helpful in assessing adrenal function in these patients and believed it should be part of the routine tests before lung cancer surgery. Much of the text could not be read, so many details are missing.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: clinical case series: adrenal function tests in a group of patients with lung cancer
• Who was studied: 100 patients with bronchogenic carcinoma, apparently four women and the rest men (OCR damaged), seen at the Ochsner Clinic and Foundation, New Orleans; dates unreadable
• Exposure: No asbestos or occupational exposure is discussed. The condition studied was bronchogenic carcinoma, and the measurements were adrenal function tests (plasma corticoids by the Porter-Silber method, a Kepler water loading test, and transcortin in some patients)
• Main results:
  • Seventy-one of the 100 patients had elevated plasma corticoid levels
  • Only one patient had Cushing's syndrome
  • There was little correlation between the plasma corticoid level and the Kepler test result
  • Since using the Kepler test, the authors had had no postoperative deaths attributed to adrenal insufficiency
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that the Kepler water test was helpful in assessing adrenal function in patients with bronchogenic carcinoma and believed it should be part of routine preoperative study

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Bronchogenic Carcinoma, Lung Cancer.

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