Combined carcinoid and mixed (composite) glandular - endocrine cell carcinoma of the stomach in atrophic gastritis

Abstract

We describe a case of gastric carcinoid and inflammatory fibroid polyp concomitant with a composite tumor of the gastric antrum composed of poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma - endocrine carcinoma with immunohistochemical documentation of endocrine and non endocrine differentiation in a 67-year-old man with atrophic gastritis and intestinal metaplasia. When gastrectomy was carried out, two lymph nodes along the greater curvature harbored metastasis from carcinoid. The same occurrence is reported in several cases in the literature, which suggests that the association of gastric carcinoid to adenocarcinoma could point to the malignant nature of carcinoid. Furthermore, the findings in this patient reinforce the concept that the epithelial and neuroendocrine cells of the gastrointestinal tract both result from multidirectional differentiation of a primitive cell.