Small-bowel carcinoid with no liver metastases

Carcinoid is a slowly-growing tumor from the group of neuroendocrine or APUD tumors. Characteristic of these tumors is the production of biogene amins & polypeptide hormones. 90% of all carcinoids are located in the GI system.

A female patient, 68 years old, comes for a visit with signs of diffuse abdominal pain, diarrhea, irregular bowel movements, weakness, dyspnea and pretibial edemas. The gastroenterologist gives her only symptomatic therapy at first, and starts the examinations after her hospitalization (initial dg: Enterocolitis). One month later she visits again with the same complains. CT scan result shows steatosis hepatica and lots of liquids in the small bowel and colon. She underwent operation--resection of 20 cm of the small bowel with tumor masses and part-time ileostoma. The biopsy of the resected segment of the bowel shows multiple carcinoids.

Our patient had no flushing of the skin and therefore couldn't be suspected clinically for this diagnosis. The intestinal carcinoid does not usually produce the carcionid syndrome unless hepatic metastases have occurred. The infiltration of the mesentery provokes an intense fibrotic reaction resulting in kinking of the bowel segments, which causes intestinal obstruction as it happened in this patient. As long as in our clinic we don't have this technique, it is much harder to make an early diagnosis. Fortunately our patient was diagnosed before liver metastases occurred, and therefore her treatment was successful.