[Calcitonin and parathyrin in the blood serum of cancer patients].

A comparative radioimmunologic study of changes in the ratio of calcitonin and parathyroid hormone secretion was carried out in healthy controls (young and older than 40 years), patients with benign tumors, inflammatory processes and malignancies of the stomach, kidney, breast, prostate and lung. A significant increase in the "calcitonin index" (ratio of molar concentrations of calcitonin and parathyroid hormone) was established in patients with cancer of the breast, prostate and skeletal metastases of lung cancer, irrespective of the presence of primary tumor. This index is irrelevant in cases of gastric and renal carcinoma and cannot be used a indication of skeletal dissemination because of the predominant level of parathyroid hormone secretion.