AbstractNinty‐one patients with bronchial carcinoids operated on during a 30‐year period were retrospectively studied regarding age, symptoms, diagnosis, tumor size and extent, treatment, and survival. In addition, an immunocytochemical study was performed on 69 tumors.The mean age at the time of diagnosis was 50 years with a slight predominance of women (64%). Common symptoms were cough, singular or recurrent pneumonias, and hemoptysis. Thirty‐one patients were discovered by chance at health control or investigation for other reasons. They were totally asymptomatic. Patient delay was insignificant, while doctor's delay exceeded 1 year in 30% of the cases. Bronchoscopy was performed in 83 patients but tumor was seen only in 60%. Biopsy from these tumors was positive in 82%. The tumor was solitary in 89 patients and was usually 10–30 mm in size. At the operation, 1 patient had lymph node metastases and 1 had a disseminated disease. The immunocytochemical analysis showed 5‐hydroxytryptamine in 37, peptide in 41, and no immunoreactive cells in 19 tumors. Gastrin‐releasing peptide was the most common peptide (21 tumors), followed by adrenocorticotropin hormone (19), human pancreatic polypeptide (17), calcitonin (15), metenkephaline (4), vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (1), and somatostatin (1). Endocrine symptoms were present only in 1 patient who suffered from a carcinoid‐like syndrome. Only 5 patients died from their endocrine tumor while 18 died from an intercurrent disease.