Growth hormone and malignancy.

The finding of raised growth hormone concentrations in patients with secondary malignancy in the liver is reported. These concentrations were significantly higher than those found in patients with primary malignancy only or in those with non-hepatic secondaries. A wide range of malignancies was investigated and the high growth hormone concentration was not specific for any type of tumour. This suggested that the increased hormone was not the product of the tumour cells but due to altered liver metabolism.