Carcinoid Tumors of Digestive Organs: a Clinicopathologic Study of 13 Cases

The author investigated clinicopathologic features of 13 cases of carcinoid tumor in the digestive organs. The 13 cases of carcinoid were identified from 18,267 pathological specimens of digestive organs in the last 10 years in our pathology laboratory. The tumor locations were rectum in 9 cases, duodenum in 2 cases, liver in 1 case, and stomach in 1 case. The age of the patients ranged from 52 to 82 years with a mean of 63 years. Male to female ratio was 7 : 6. The presenting symptoms were abnormal pain in 3 cases and asymptomatic in 10 cases. None of the cases showed carcinoid syndrome. The diameter ranged from 5 mm to 25 mm in gastrointestinal carcinoids, and 60 mm in the hepatic carcinoid. The treatment was endoscopic mucosal resection in 10 cases and surgical resection in 3 cases. The outcome is good except for hepatic atypical carcinoid which showed metastases and died of systemic metastasis. Histologically, 12 carcinoid tumors were typical carcinoids, and one (liver) was atypical carcinoid. Organoid pattern was present in 12 cases. Trabecular arrangement, ribbon arrangement, rosette formation, and pseudoglandular arrangement were recognized in 12 cases, in 8 cases, in 7 cases, and in 5 cases, respectively. Immunohistochemically, tumor cells were positive for at least one of pan-neuroendocrine markers including chromogranin, synaptophysin, neuron-specific enolase, CD56, and glucagon. Of these, synaptophysin was positive in 11/13 (85%), neuron-specific enolase 10/13 (80%), chromogranin 8/13 (62%), CD56 6/13 (46%), and glucagon 4/13 (31%). In summary, the author reported the incidence of digestive organ carcinoid tumors, and the clinicopathologic features of the 13 cases with carcinoid.