Abstract
We experienced 3 cases of gastric carcinoid. Two of the 3 patients were 55-year-old men and the other was a 52-year-old man. Their early clinical symptoms before diagnosis were mainly epigastralgia and/or epigastric discomfort. In case 1, the preoperative diagnosis was gastric carcinoid. In case 2, simultaneous duplicate cancers in the sigmoid colon were detected by preoperative examinaiton. In case 3, metastasis to the medial segment of the liver was found preoperatively. The operations were total gastrectomy with resection of the body and tail of the pancreas and the spleen in case 1, subtotal gastrectomy and sigmoidectomy in case 2, and total gastrectomy and partial resection of medial segment of the liver in case 3. In cases 1 and 2, metastasis to regional lymph nodes was observed. In case 3, tumor invasion reached the submucosal layer. Argentaffin granules were seen in 2 cases. As for prognosis, patient 1 is alive 4 years after the operation although metastasis developed 1 year and 8 months after surgery. Patients 2 and 3 are surviving without recurrence 10 and 8 months respectively, after surgery. Gastric carcinoid has been reported to have a high incidence of metastasis to the lymph nodes and to the liver. To prevent metastasis it is necessary to perform gastrectomy and dissection of the lymph node.
