[Undifferentiated small cell carcinoma and diffuse endocrine system (author's transl)].

Oat cell carcinomas of the lung are sometimes associated with endocrine secretion. Resulting syndromes, first regarded as "paraneoplasic", are in fact imputable to secretory activity of the tumoral cells, as demonstrated by electron microscopy and immunofluorescence studies. Such ascertainments are explained by the existence in the bronchial tree of a diffuse endocrine system sector, from which carcinoid and oat cell carcinoma originate. However, the authors consider other histogenetic hypotheses and rapidly survey the extra-pulmonary oat cell carcinomas.