Late recurrent pulmonary typical carcinoid tumor: case report and review of the literature

Carcinoid tumors are uncommon pulmonary neoplasms. They are classified histologically as either atypical or typical. Atypical carcinoids are aggressive malignancies that require radical surgical resection and have a guarded prognosis with a propensity to metastasize and recur. Typical carcinoids are low-grade malignancies with relatively less metastatic or recurring potential and are usually treated with simple excision. Recurrence of a typical pulmonary carcinoid tumor more than a decade after initial resection is very rare. A patient with recurrence of a typical carcinoid tumor 11 years after resection of the primary lesion with one involved lymph node is reported here. Late recurrences are rare in both atypical and typical varieties, but are much more common in atypical carcinoids. The patient reported here represents the fifth case of recurrence of a typical carcinoid tumor more than ten years after resection. This suggests that, after resection of a typical carcinoid neoplasm, patients should be monitored carefully, especially if lymph node metastases are present at the time of surgery.