Plasma human calcitonin (hCT) levels in normal and pathologic conditions, and their responses to short calcium or tetragastrin infusion.

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Abstract
Plasma hCT [human calcitonin] levels were less than 50 pg/ml in 50 normal subjects. In 16 patients with medullary carcinoma of the thyroid (MCT), plasma hCT levels were distinctively elevated, and they fell significantly after total thyroidectomy, but in 11, plasma levels were still high, indicating the presence of metastases. In 74 patients with the other types of malignancy, plasma hCT levels were high in 9 cases (3 oat cell carinoma of the lung, 4 malignant carcinoids, 1 malignant pheochromocytoma and 1 acute myelocytic leukemia). Except for the leukemic case, all these tumors were derived from neural crest. In 12 patients with primary hyperparathyroidism, plasma hCT levels were less than 20 pg/ml. In 13 hypoparathyroid patients, 2 with pseudohypoparathyroidism and 1 with pseudoidiopathic hypoparathyroidism, plasma hCT levels were slightly elevated. Some patients with uremia had elevated plasma hCT levels, but there was no relation between plasma levels of hCT and those of PTH, urea N or creatinine. In response to Ca (4.5 mg/kg per 10 min) or tetragastrin (4 .mu.g/kg per 5 min) infusion, a marked increase in plasma hCT was observed in all patients with MCT, but not in normal subjects. In 5 hypoparathyroid patients, a significant increase to both stimuli was also observed in all cases. Two patients with pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism responded to the Ca load. The determination of plasma hCT levels, especially after the short Ca or tetragastrin, is apparently important in the study of various pathological conditions.

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