ACTH type of substance is produced by which type of lung malignancy: September 2010

Ans. B: Small cell lung carcinoma Some benign or, more often, cancerous tumors that arise outside the pituitary can produce ACTH. This condition is known as ectopic ACTH syndrome. Lung tumors cause more than half of these cases, and men are affected three times more often than women. The most common forms of ACTH-producing tumors are small cell lung cancer, which accounts for about 13 percent of all lung cancer cases, and carcinoid tumors -- small, slow-growing tumors that arise from hormone-producing cells in various pas of the body. Other less common types of tumors that can produce ACTH are thymomas, pancreatic islet cell tumors, and medullary carcinomas of the thyroid.