Bronchial carcinoid tumor: A case report

Bronchial carcinoid tumors are rare, slow growing, malignant neuroendocrine tumors and account for less than 2% of all lung tumors. Early diagnosis is extremely important as the main stay of treatment is surgical excision.

We present a rare case of bronchial typical carcinoid tumor in a 22-year-old female who presented with a complaint of intermittent productive cough with bloody sputum of 3 weeks' duration associated with wheezing, low grade intermittent fever and loss of appetite. She was being treated as bronchial asthma for 10 years prior to her current presentation. Right lung bi-lobectomy with regional lymph node resection was done and she was discharged home in good condition.

Majority of typical carcinoids are located in the central airways leading to bronchial obstruction with recurrent pneumonia, chest pain, wheezing and hemoptysis. Due to such nonspecific presentation most patients are misdiagnosed or diagnosed late. Both typical and atypical Carcinoids have similar radiologic features and definitive diagnosis relies on bronchoscopic tissue biopsy. Although hilar and mediastinal lymph nodes are the most common metastatic sites for typical carcinoids most lymphadenopathies are caused by a reactive inflammatory reaction.

Bronchial carcinoids are rare, malignant neuroendocrine tumors with complete surgical resection being the only curative management. Thus patients with recurrent respiratory symptoms despite optimum medical treatment should be thoroughly investigated for accurate and early diagnosis The outcome of typical carcinoids with lymph node metastasis is excellent with complete resection but close follow up is mandatory when dealing with larger tumors.