Small Intestinal Carcinoid Tumour : a Case Report and Review of Relevant Literature

ABSTRACT

Background: Carcinoid tumours have long been known to be a morphologically distinct class of rare intestinal tumours. The prevalence vary with geographical area; most are clinically silent and are found incidentally at surgery. They may occasionally cause intestinal or vascular obstruction necessitating emergency surgery following which the dia- gnosis is made. We report this first case of intestinal carcinoid seen in this centre in over twenty years. Methods: The case report discussed here is an intestinal carcinoid in- volving the distal ileum. Results:Clinical presentation was recurrent abdominal pain with a tender mass in the periumbilical region extending to the right iliac fossa with noisybowel sounds. Plain abdominal x-ray; barium meal and abdominal Ultrasonography were not diagnostic. A laparatomy on account of intestinal obstruction was performed which revealed a tan yellow tumour extending into the mesentery. Histology revealed carcinoid tumour.Conclusion: Carcinoid tumours should be considered in patients presenting with recurrent abdominal pain or mass or intestinal obstruction. Localization of the tumour is impor- tant since the diagnosis of all carcinoids without systemic features from hormone production depends on the histological structure and staining properties