[Should elevated beta-HCG levels be an exclusion criteria in clinical trials? A case report of paraneoplastic secretion associated with lung adenocarcinoma]

BetaHCG secretion by a pulmonary adenocarcinoma

We report a rare case of metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer in a 43-year-old woman with a history of smoking. The tumor secreted human chorionic gonadotropin and its beta subunit (BetaHCG). The patient presented with amenorrhea, a positive pregnancy test and chest pain. A physical examination and investigations revealed no pregnancy, and it was determined that a paraneoplastic syndrome stemming from a pulmonary tumor was responsible for the secretion of BetaHCG. This secretion decreased with tumor response to chemotherapy. Only a few reports of paraneoplastic BetaHCG secretion can be found in the literature for several different cancers.