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Endocrinology

Carcinoid Tumors

Section of Endocrine Surgery, Department of Surgery, and Section of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

Key Words. Carcinoid cancer • Neuroendocrine • Somatostatin • Chromogranin A • serotonin

Correspondence: Herbert Chen, M.D., F.A.C.S., University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, H4/750 Clinical Science Center, 600 Highland Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin 53792, USA. Telephone: 608-263-1387; Fax: 608-263-7652; e-mail: chen{at}surgery.wisc.edu

Received September 18, 2008; accepted for publication November 17, 2008; first published online in THE ONCOLOGIST Express on December 17, 2008.

Disclosure: Employment/leadership position: None; Intellectual property rights/inventor/patent holder: None; Consultant/advisory role: Herbert Chen, Novartis, Covidien; Honoraria: None; Research funding/contracted research: None; Ownership interest: None; Expert testimony: None; Other: None.

The content of this article has been reviewed by independent peer reviewers to ensure that it is balanced, objective, and free from commercial bias. No financial relationships relevant to the content of this article have been disclosed by the authors, planners, independent peer reviewers, or staff managers.

Carcinoid tumors are rare, slow-growing neuroendocrine tumors arising from the enterochromaffin cells disseminated throughout the gastrointestinal and bronchopulmonary systems. Though they have been traditionally classified based on embryologic site of origin, morphologic pattern, and silver affinity, newer classification systems have been developed to emphasize the considerable clinical and histopathologic variability of carcinoid tumors found within each embryologic site of origin. These neoplasms pose a diagnostic challenge because they are often innocuous at the time of presentation, emphasizing the need for a multidisciplinary diagnostic approach using biochemical analysis, standard cross-sectional imaging, and newer advances in nuclear medicine. Similarly, treatment of both primary and disseminated carcinoid disease reflects the need for a multidisciplinary approach, with surgery remaining the only curative modality. The prognosis for patients with these tumors is generally favorable; however, it can be quite variable and is related to the location of the primary tumor, extent of metastatic disease at initial presentation, and time of diagnosis.