4-Net Cancer Fact: ~ Carcinoid Tumors - What Are They? Benign or Malignant? ~ Relative newcomers to medical recognition, carcinoid tumors were first identified as a specific, distinct type of growth in the mid 1800s, and the name carcinoid was first applied in 1907 by Oberndorfer in Europe in attempt to designate these tumors as midway between carcinomas (cancers) and adenomas (benign tumors). ~ They were found to arise from the cells of the Diffuse Neuroendocrine System, enterochromaffin cells (glandular endocrine-hormone producing cells) widely distributed in the body but found in greatest amounts in the small intestine and then in decreasing frequency in the appendix, rectum, lung, pancreas and very rarely in the ovaries, testes, liver, bile ducts and other locations. These cells have special peculiar features that make them identifiable under the microscope. They stain in a special way when put in contact with silver containing chemicals. Special stains for the particular hormones that enterochromaffin cells can make will identify the hormone substances in carcinoid tumor cells and thereby confirm the diagnosis of the microscopic exam on biopsied carcinoid tumors. ~ Only as recently as 1954 was the Carcinoid Syndrome first described and accepted as a specific disease entity. Thorsen, Biorck, Björkman and Waldenstrom, a group of doctors in the United States and Scandinavia, first recognized the nature of the various symptoms associated with some carcinoid tumors that have become known as Carcinoid Syndrome and they described it in a medical journal. This syndrome, which I will discuss in more detail later, consists of a group of symptoms and findings on physical and laboratory examination that are sometimes caused by the potent hormones produced by carcinoid tumors. ~ In the early 1990s the development and availability of octreotide (Sandostatin) by the Sandoz Pharmaceutical Company (now Novartis) provided a most important drug for the treatment of the Carcinoid Syndrome and for carcinoid tumor disease in general. This drug is derived from the naturally occurring hormone somatostatin. Along with this, Novartis aggressively educated doctors about the rare carcinoid tumor and syndrome and this has done much to increase awareness of the condition and to enhance its diagnosis and treatment. In Europe and some countries in other parts of the world one of two other somatostatin derivatives, lanreotide (Somatuline) (Ipsen) and vapreotide (Sanvar® IR), are also used.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 15:09:35 +0000
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