We investigated the relationship between urinary growth hormone (u-GH) and spontaneous 24-hour plasma GH secretion in 15 acromegalic patients. To measure u-GH, we have developed a method based on concentrating the sample by centrifugal ultrafiltration and then performing an immunoradiometric assay using commercially available reagents. u-GH correlated well with the integrated concentration of plasma GH (r = 0.66, p < 0.02). Additionally, u-GH excretion in acromegalic patients was significantly higher than in the control group (190 +/- 100 vs. 3.89 +/- 0.56 pg/min, mean +/- SEM, p < 0.001). Immunoreactive u-GH showed the same elution pattern in Sephadex G-75 as standard or labeled hGH, proving that the substance measured in urine is authentic GH. In conclusion, u-GH appears to be a simple, noninvasive and inexpensive test for evaluating GH secretion in active acromegaly.