Is Ectopic Cushing Syndrome Commonly Associated with Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC)? Critical Review of the Literature and ACTH Expression in Resected SCLC.

ABSTRACT: The literature emphasizes that pulmonary ectopic Cushing syndrome (ECS) is associated not only with neuroendocrine tumors (NETs), but also with small cell lung carcinomas (SCLCs). This statement is debatable, because extrapulmonary ECS is associated with NETs in the vast majority of cases and very rarely with neuroendocrine carcinomas (NECs). Therefore, we critically reviewed the literature on SCLCs associated with ECS (ECS-SCLC) and performed immunohistochemical analysis of ACTH expression in 155 resected SCLCs and 158 pulmonary NETs. The literature search revealed that 90% of the 205 ECS-SCLC patients identified between 1952 and 2023 had no or poor-quality histologic images, so the diagnosis of SCLC could not be confirmed. Review of the 20 reports (10%) with histologic images revealed th

SUBMITTER: Ura A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12048459 | biostudies-literature | 2025 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature