Calcitonin in multiple myeloma
Pérez-Gutiérrez, A.; Prieto, S.; Espinos, D.; Tamarit, J.
Sangre 25(3): 334-338
1980
ISSN/ISBN: 0036-4355 PMID: 7414449 Document Number: 155892
The basal calcitonin (HCT) levels were measured in 10 patients with multiple myeloma by a previously standardized radioimmunoassay method with sensitivity (minimal hormone amount detected) of 60 pg/ml. No second malignancy was found in any of the patients. Six patients had roentgenological signs of osseous involvement, 3 showing hypercalcemia. The levels of parathormone were not measured, but the assessment of P management by the kidney and the creatinine coefficient were normal in the 3 hypercalcemic patients. Of these, 1 had significantly increased levels of HCT (2100 pg/ml P < 0.001), while in a normocalcemic patient no HCT was detected. A significant, yet difficult to explain, correlation between HCT levels and calcemia was observed (P < 0.025). Thyroid medullar carcinoma was not found in the necropsy of the patient with hypercalcitoninemia. Increased osseous resorbtion may enhance the thyroid HCT secretion this being the source of the hormone found in peripheral blood.