Intestinal neuroendocrine tumor. Case report and review of the literature.

Abstract

Gastroenteropancreatic (GEP) neuroendocrine tumors are rare neoplasm and have proved to be slow growing malignancies which involve many organs and most frequently the gastrointestinal tract. They have a peculiary biological behaviour: most of them have endocrine function (carcinoid syndrome); many are clinically silent until late presentation. Symptoms are non specific; the most common are abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, weight loss and gastrointestinal (GI) blood loss. Incidental carcinoid, discovered at the time of another procedure, occurred in 40% of patients, and in multiple site throughout the GI tract.

Here we report a case of a 73-year-old male with an adenomatous colonic polyp, not suitable of endoscopic treatment, and a synchronous carcinoid of small intestine discovered during surgical procedure. Therefore we performed a review of literature with particular attention to diagnosis and strategy of the treatment.