Carcinoid tumors: a 37-year experience
J. Zeitels, K. Naunheim, E. L. Kaplan and F. Straus 2nd
We analyzed 101 cases of carcinoid tumor in patients treated at the
University of Chicago hospitals between 1942 and 1979. Tumors occurred most
commonly in the rectum (29%) and ileum (28%). Only 12% were appendiceal.
More than 60% were less than 1 cm, and 43% were confined to the submucosa.
These factors led to favorable prognoses. Twenty-three percent of the
tumors were greater than 2 cm in diameter; 70% of them had metastasized,
compared with only 6% of lesions less than 1 cm. Metastases were present in
46% of ileal and 40% of colonic lesions. None of 13 bronchial and only one
of 12 appendiceal lesions demonstrated this spread. Carcinoid syndrome was
noted in three cases. A second neoplasm was present in 22%. The corrected
five-year survival rate was 87% overall, 95% without metastases, 83% with
positive regional lymph nodes, and only 40% with distant spread.
