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Carcinoid Cancer
 
Urgent surgery, has often been precipitated by the onset of intestinal obstruction. They can cause intermittent abdominal pain and then a change in bowel habits that may lead to intestinal obstruction. The diagnosis is not usually suspected prior to surgery but is then established by biopsy. A now universally approved (though costly) way of finding carcinoid tumors, as well as other neuroendocrine tumors, is the OctreoScan. In most cases a firm diagnosis has not been established before an operative procedure has been performed. Laboratory Findings:
  • Increased urine 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), a metabolite of serotonin - occurs only when hepatic metastases are present
  • Increased blood and urine serotonin, found only after hepatic metastases of intestinal carcinoid tumor and in gastric carcinoid tumors
  • Laboratory findings of diarrhea.
In cases where somewhat larger tumors have spread to local tissues and local lymph nodes but are, along with these locally invaded tissues, still totally surgically removable, the average survival has been 8 years ranging up to 23 years. Radiation is useful only for pain relief and regressing tumors when they have spread to the skeletal system and when they are causing severe pain.

Incidence; Causes & Development
Carcinoid tumours are rare neuroendocrine lesions. Approximately 1,000 cases are seen each year in the United Kingdom. Most arise from the gastrointestinal tract. The commonest sites of the primary tumour are the appendix (30%), small bowel (20%), colon (20%) and stomach less than 10%.

The prognosis depends on where the original tumor is located, the likelihood of metastases becoming greater with increasing tumor size. Episodes of "carcinoid crisis" may be very infrequent and last only a few minutes at first but gradually occur more often as the disease progresses. In many cases the symptoms of Carcinoid Syndrome, resulting from the hormones and chemicals produced, are worse than the symptoms from the growth of the tumor itself.
 
Carcinoid Cancer is benefited or hindered by:
 
5-HIAA Urine test
Alcohol Avoidance
Conventional Drug Avoidance
High/Increased Protein Diet
LDN - Low Dose Naltrexone
Stress Management