Carcinoid tumours in Auckland, New Zealand

Carcinoid tumours in Auckland diagnosed during 1976-87 have been reviewed retrospectively. Eighty-three patients with carcinoid tumours were seen during this time (56 appendiceal, 11 small bowel, two colorectal, 10 pulmonary and four other). Three patients had carcinoid syndrome. The most common presentation for appendiceal carcinoid was acute appendicitis. The most common presentations for pulmonary lesions were incidental findings on chest X-ray, recurrent chest infection or haemoptysis, while bowel lesions presented with abdominal pain or rectal bleeding. Following resection, 53 of 56 appendiceal patients were alive and well (two died from other causes) and 10 of 10 pulmonary carcinoids were alive and well. In contrast, both patients with colorectal carcinoid died from their disease within 1 year, and, of the patients with small bowel carcinoid, one died of the disease and more than half of the remainder are alive with metastatic spread and symptoms at the time of study. The most important prognostic variables governing outcome were anatomical site of the primary lesion and the state of the histological margins following resection.