[Angiographic diagnosis of small intestine carcinoids (author's transl)]

A report is given on two cases of metastasizing ileum carcinoid in which the arteriography of the superior mesenteric artery and the hepatic artery lead to a correct diagnosis while no clear result could be obtained by conventional X-ray examinations (gastrointestinal passage and Irigoscopy of the colon). In the first case, the vascular alterations in the lower ileum, combined with numerous hyper-vascularized metastases in the liver allowed to diagnose the primary tumor and to determine its type. In the second case, a correct diagnosis could be made alone bacuse of the specific vascular alterations indicating the carcinoid which was growing by infiltration (vascular star, missing parenchymatous charge, belated venous drainage, in the tumor region). In one case, a second primary tumor whose growth was accompanied only by little infiltration could be early diagnosed. All diagnoses were confirmed by surgical and anatomicopathological findings. In order to ameliorate the prognosis, bad until now, by an earlier diagnosis, arteriography should be used whenever a (metastasizing) small intestine carcinoid is suspected.