[Proof of the absence of prostaglandin secretion by a medullary carcinoma of the thyroid with functional diarrhea].

In a patient who had undergone surgery for a medullary carcinoma of the thyroid, and with multiple hepatic metastases and severe diarrhoea, prostaglandins PGE1, PGE2, and PGF2alpha measured in peripheral venous blood and hepatic venous blood were normal in level and closely comparable, i.e. without gradient. Arachidonic acid, a PGs precursor, labelled with Iodine 131 was not taken up in the plaques of hypofixation seen with bengal rose and technetium sulphate. Finally, aspirin and indomethacin failed to relieve the diarrhoea. It is suggested that PGs were not secreted by the hepatic metastases and could not therefore be considered responsible for the diarrhoea.