| dc.description.abstract | BACKGROUND: Carcinoid tumours are hormone-producing tumours arising from enterochrommaffine cells in the gastrointestinal tract. The tumours are typically located in the ileum, coecum or appendix and have the ability to spread, mainly to the liver, mesenterium and skeleton. Common symptoms are fatigue, abdominal pain, diarrhoea and weight loss. The treatment options are surgery, embolization or chemotherapy.
METHODS: Review of patient journals. Survival at the 1. of January 2003 was investigated through the National registry of statistics.
MATERIALS: One hundred and fifty four patients with histological verified carcinoid tumours hospitalised from 1968 to June 2002 at the Department of gastroenterology, Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway were subject to analyses. Median age at diagnosis was 60,7 years (range 15 79). The patients were followed-up until the 1. of January 2003. Median follow-up was 5,5 years (range 0,1-34,5).
RESULTS: One hundred and twenty three (80 %) of the patients had a midgut tumour. The most frequent localisation of the carcinoid tumour was the small intestine with 88 (72%) cases. The median age at diagnosis was 61 years (range 16-79 years). The median time from start of symptoms to diagnosis of carcinoid tumour was 6,8 months. Liver metastases was found in 118 (77 %) of the patients. Before the diagnosis were made, pain (67 %), diarrhoea (51 %), flushing (43 %) and weight loss (33 %) were the most frequent symptoms in the patients with liver metastasis. Of the patients without liver metastasis, 73 % reported pain, 27 % diarrhoea and 17 % flushing.
Of the patients without liver metastasis, 10 (28 %) also had metastases in other organs. In the group with liver metastases, 57 (48 %) had metastases in other organs. The mesenterium and the skeleton were the most common locations of extrahepatic spread.
Overall 41 (16 women) of the patients died. For midgut the 5-year-survival after diagnosis was 88 % and the 10-year-survival 70. Survival was not statistical significant related to sex (p = 0,12), or presence of liver (p = 0,12) or extrahepatic (p = 0,08) metastases.
CONCLUSION: The small intestine (distal part) is the most common location of gastrointestinal carcinoid tumours. Most of the patients have metastases in the liver. The survival prognosis, both for those with and those without metastases, is good compared to many other tumours. | nor |