Skip to main content
NCBI home page
British Medical Journal logoLink to British Medical Journal
. 1975 Jul 5;3(5974):11–12. doi: 10.1136/bmj.3.5974.11

Diarrhoeae in thyroid medullary carcinoma: role of prostaglandins and therapeutic effect of nutmeg.

J A Barrowman, A Bennett, P Hillenbrand, K Rolles, D J Pollock, J T Wright
PMCID: PMC1673758  PMID: 1169097

Abstract

In a patient with medullary carcinoma of the thyroid with pulmonary metastases who presented with diarrhoea and steatorrhoea large amounts of prostaglandin-like material were present in peripheral blood, and some was extracted from the tumour. The diarrhoea which persisted after thyroidectomy responded to treatment with nutmeg.

Full text

PDF

Images in this article

12p12-a
on p.12

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Baylin S. B., Beaven M. A., Engelman K., Sjoerdsma A. Elevated histaminase activity in medullary carcinoma of the thyroid gland. N Engl J Med. 1970 Dec 3;283(23):1239–1244. doi: 10.1056/NEJM197012032832301. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bennett A., Fleshler B. Prostaglandins and the gastrointestinal tract. Gastroenterology. 1970 Nov;59(5):790–800. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bennett A., Gradidge C. F., Stamford I. F. Letter: Prostaglandins, nutmeg and diarrhea. N Engl J Med. 1974 Jan 10;290(2):110–111. doi: 10.1056/NEJM197401102900221. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Bennett A., Stamford I. F., Unger W. G. Prostaglandin E2 and gastric acid secretion in man. J Physiol. 1973 Mar;229(2):349–360. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.1973.sp010142. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Bernier J. J., Rambaud J. C., Cattan D., Prost A. Diarrhoea associated with medullary carcinoma of the thyroid. Gut. 1969 Dec;10(12):980–985. doi: 10.1136/gut.10.12.980. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. FALCK B., LARSON B., VON, ROSENGREN E., SVENAEUS K. ON THE PRESENCE OF A SECOND SPECIFIC CELL SYSTEM IN MAMMALIAN THYROID GLAND. Acta Physiol Scand. 1964 Dec;62:491–492. doi: 10.1111/j.1748-1716.1964.tb10449.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Fawell W. N., Thompson G. Nutmeg for diarrhea of medullary carcinoma of thyroid. N Engl J Med. 1973 Jul 12;289(2):108–109. doi: 10.1056/nejm197307122890225. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Horton E. W., Main I. H., Thompson C. J., Wright P. M. Effect of orally administered prostaglandin E1 on gastric secretion and gastrointestinal motility in man. Gut. 1968 Dec;9(6):655–658. doi: 10.1136/gut.9.6.655. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Matuchansky C., Bernier J. J. Effects of prostaglandin E1 on net and unidirectional movements of water and electrolytes across the jejunal mucosa in man. Gut. 1971 Oct;12(10):854–855. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Pearse A. G. The cytochemistry of the thyroid C cells and their relationship to calcitonin. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 1966 Apr 19;164(996):478–487. doi: 10.1098/rspb.1966.0044. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Sieber P., Brugger M., Kamber B., Riniker B., Rittel W. Menschliches Calcitonin. IV. Die Synthese von Calcitonin. Helv Chim Acta. 1968;51(8):2057–2061. doi: 10.1002/hlca.19680510825. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Unger W. G., Stamford I. F., Bennett A. Extraction of prostaglandins from human blood. Nature. 1971 Oct 1;233(5318):336–337. doi: 10.1038/233336b0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Williams E. D., Brown C. L., Doniach I. Pathological and clinical findings in a series of 67 cases of medullary carcinoma of the thyroid. J Clin Pathol. 1966 Mar;19(2):103–113. doi: 10.1136/jcp.19.2.103. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Williams E. D., Karim S. M., Sandler M. Prostaglandin secretion by medullary carcinoma of the thyroid. A possible cause of the associated idarrhoea. Lancet. 1968 Jan 6;1(7532):22–23. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(68)90010-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from British Medical Journal are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES