Intestinal neuroendocrine tumor. Case report and review of the literature
Micheletto, G.; Sciannamea, I.; Zanoni, A.; Panizzo, V.; Rubino, B.; Danelli, P.
Annali Italiani di Chirurgia 80(4): 319-324
2009
ISSN/ISBN: 0003-469X PMID: 19967893 Document Number: 630686
Gastroenteropancreatic (GEP) neuroendocrine tumors are rare neoplasm and have proved to be slow growing malignancies which involve many organs and most frequently the gastrointestinal tract. They have a peculiary biological behaviour: most of them have endocrine function (carcinoid syndrome); many are clinically silent until late presentation. Symptoms are non specific; the most common are abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, weight loss and gastrointestinal (GI) blood loss. Incidental carcinoid, discovered at the time of another procedure, occurred in 40% of patients, and in multiple site throughout the GI tract. Here we report a case of a 73-year-old male with an adenomatous colonic polyp, not suitable of endoscopic treatment, and a synchronous carcinoid of small intestine discovered during surgical procedure. Therefore we performed a review of literature with particular attention to diagnosis and strategy of the treatment.