GASTROINTESTINAL CARCINOID TUMORS are rare malignancies in which cancer develops in hormone-producing cells that line the appendix, bronchus, esophagus, intestines, liver, ovary, pancreas, rectum, stomach, testes, and thymus. Malignant carcinoid may produce hormones like seratonin. CARCINOID TUMORS spread by direct invasion of underlying layers of tissue. In the early stages, carcinoid tumors are treatable and often curable. They can also spread via lymphatics to regional lymph nodes and through the bloodstream to the liver, lungs, bone or other organs. The risk of metastasis is related to the size of the primary tumor. CARCINOIDS are open classified as neuroendocrine. People with carcinoid tumors in their appendix often don’t have symptoms. Rectal carcinoids are often found on routine exam, though they can cause pain and bleeding from the rectum.

The cause of gastrointestinal carcinoids is unknown. Symptoms are rare in the early stages and when they do occur, the tumor probably already spread. These symptoms are facial flushing, wheezing, diarrhea and cardiac valvular disease. CARCINOIDS that develop in the stomach are usually slow growing and often do not cause symptoms. The risk factors that increase a persons risk of developing gastrointestinal carcinoids includes having certain disease that harm the stomach and lower the production of stomach acid. Having family history of multiple endocrine neoplasia. Commonly affected glands are the thyroid, parathyroids, pituitary, adrenals, and pancreas. GASTROINTESTINAL CARCINOID TUMORS are also called carcinoids, endocrine tumors, carcinoid type, neuroendocrine tumors, metastatic carcinoid tumors. There are no effective screening methods or known risk factors for this type of cancer. There are wide variations in the chemicals secreted by these tumors, and the symptoms depend on the mix of chemicals made by the particular tumor. Although gastrointestinal carcinoids behave differently in different people, tumors that originate in the appendix don’t usually spread to other organs. Tumors that originate in the small intestine or other parts of the gastrointestinal tract and spread to the liver generally cause carcinoid syndrome. This syndrome, which develops in approximately 10% of patients, is more common in carcinoids of the midgut, the foregut, and in those that have metastasized especially to the liver. GASTROINTESTINAL CARCINOIDS are slow growing tumors arising from enterochromaffin or kulchitsky cells. tumors can originate from any cell of the amine precursor uptake and decarboxylation system and, therefore, produce several intestinal hormones. Localizing studies in carcinoid tumors/syndrome are transabdominal ultrasonography, endoscopy, endoscopic US, videocapsule endoscopy, computerized tomography, magnetic resonance imaging. A nonspecific biochemical tumor market for carcinoid tumors is serum chromogranin A and a specific marker for the carcinoid syndrome is the increased urinary excretion of 5-hydroxy indole acetic acid. Malignant carcinoid syndrome is the constellation of symptoms typically exhibited by patients with metastases from carcinoid tumors. The name was chosen to separate these tumors from ordinary malignancies, but, by the 1950s, the fact that carcinoids could be malignant was obvious. Symptoms of carcinoid syndrome depend on which hormones are produced by the tumor. Surgery to completely remove the tumor is usually the first line of treatment. It can result in permanent cure if the tumor is entirely removed. Some patients with carcinoid tumors also have cancers or benign tumors of other organs. The doctor will pay special attention to the abdomen, looking for a tumor mass or enlarged liver.