Carcinoid syndrome is a clinical picture that affects 10% of patients with carcinoid tumors originating from the gastrointestinal tract. Patients experience diarrhea, flushing of the face and upper body that occurs within seconds, lasting for a few minutes. Some foods, alcohol and emotional stress trigger this clinical picture.
What are the Effects of Carcinoid Syndrome?
Carcinoid syndrome is a clinical picture that affects 10% of patients with carcinoid tumors originating from the gastrointestinal tract. Patients experience diarrhea, flushing of the face and upper body that occurs within seconds, lasting for a few minutes. Some foods, alcohol and emotional stress trigger this clinical picture.
Carcinoid crisis, which is a worse picture, occurs in some patients. In this life-threatening picture, a persistent, widespread flushing, severe diarrhea and dizziness, vertigo and coma can be seen. Patients may also be accompanied by tachycardia, arrhythmia, hypotension or hypertension.
How to Diagnose Carcinoid Syndrome?
Substances thought to be responsible for the syndrome; serotonin, bradykinin, histamine, substance-P, dopamine and prostaglandins.
Diagnosis of carcinoid syndrome; It is diagnosed when the urine levels of 5-HIAA, the main metabolite of serotonin, are found to be high.
How to Treat Carcinoid Syndrome?
Treatment is aimed at suppressing symptoms. If there are liver metastases responsible for the syndrome, operative debulking and curative resection should be performed. In the treatment of carcinoid syndrome, serotonin antagonists cyproheptadine, histamine antagonists cimetidine, phenoxybenzamine are agents used as drugs.
Read: 7
