[An unusual incidence of carcinoid tumors and secondary malignancies]

A secondary malignancy is a common finding in carcinoid tumor patients. Several authors saw 7 to 36% of their carcinoid tumor patients developing an other malignancy. From 1965 to 1990 we treated 144 patients with a carcinoid tumor. During the follow-up time 24 (17%) developed a secondary tumor commonly sited in the gastrointestinal tract (8 colon carcinomas, 3 rectal carcinomas, 2 gastric carcinomas, 1 small bowel carcinoma, 1 esophageal cancer). The incidence is elevated 8 times in comparison to the normal population. One may speculate that a carcinoid patient possesses an increased susceptibility to all forms of malignancy. As a consequence all the carcinoid tumor patients should be thoroughly investigated and should be followed up in short terms. Central point of interest should be the gastrointestinal tract.