Carcinoid tumors: a 37-year experience

Abstract

We analyzed 101 cases of carcinoid tumor in patients treated at the University of Chicago hospitals between 1942 and 1979. Tumors occurred most commonly in the rectum (29%) and ileum (28%). Only 12% were appendiceal. More than 60% were less than 1 cm, and 43% were confined to the submucosa. These factors led to favorable prognoses. Twenty-three percent of the tumors were greater than 2 cm in diameter; 70% of them had metastasized, compared with only 6% of lesions less than 1 cm. Metastases were present in 46% of ileal and 40% of colonic lesions. None of 13 bronchial and only one of 12 appendiceal lesions demonstrated this spread. Carcinoid syndrome was noted in three cases. A second neoplasm was present in 22%. The corrected five-year survival rate was 87% overall, 95% without metastases, 83% with positive regional lymph nodes, and only 40% with distant spread.