Neuroendocrine tumors of the gastrointestinal tract (NETGI) and second primary malignancies--which is dominant?

Abstract

13-46% of all patients with a neuroendocrine tumor of the gastrointestinal tract (NETGI, "Carcinoid") develop a carcinoma. The goal of our study was to find out the frequency of other malignancies in our patients with an NETGI and to discover which of the tumors was decisive for the clinical course. We documented the clinical findings in 55 patients with an NETGI who underwent surgery in our hospital, noted the occurrence of other malignancies and recorded a current follow-up. 13 of 55 patients (24%) had an additional carcinoma after a median follow-up of 53 months. In 11 of the 13 patients the NETGI was identified accidentally. None of them had developed the carcinoma after the NETGI. In most of our patients (11 out of 13) the carcinoma was clinically predominant and discovered before the NETGI. Thus, a special follow-up looking for a carcinoma is probably not mandatory after the diagnosis of an NETGI.