Surgical therapy for small-bowel carcinoid tumors
W. E. Strodel, G. Talpos, F. Eckhauser and N. Thompson
Eighty-two symptomatic patients with carcinoid tumors of the small
intestine were examined and treated over a 20-year period. Common clinical
features included weight loss, diarrhea, and symptoms of intermittent bowel
obstruction; 25 patients (30%) exhibited the carcinoid syndrome. Multiple
carcinoid tumors occurred in 23 patients (28%), and hepatic metastases were
present in 30 (37%). All patients underwent operation. The overall
mortality was 7%, and the cumulative five-year survival rate was 59%. Two
factors influenced prognosis after operation: hepatic metastases and
incomplete resection. Other variables, including the sex and age of the
patient and the size of the primary tumor, were of no additional prognostic
value. Wide resection of the tumor, including regional lymph nodes, is
indicated, regardless of the size of the primary tumor.
