Four Cases of Ileal Carcinoid

Abstract

In a past 10-year period, we have experienced four cases of ileal carcinoid which is a very rare entity in this country.
An average age of these patients was 55 years, ranging from 52 to 57. The male-to-female ratio was two versus two. The chief complaints were positive reaction to the guaiac test in two cases and abdominal pain in two cases. Endoscopic studies showed a submucosal tumor yellow in color at the terminal ileum. We performed biopsies in all cases that yielded the definite diagnosis of carcinoid before surgery. On abdominal CT scans, regional lymph node swelling was pointed out in two cases, but distant metastases were absent. We thus determined that these patients could be candidates for radical operation, and performed laparoscopic-assisted ileocecal excision (D3 dissection) in all patients. Histopathology revealed an average tumor diameter to be 20 mm (ranging from 12 to 30 mm), the tumor to have grown in the muscularis propria, and the neighboring regional lymph node metastasis to be present in all cases ; namely pT2N1M0, pStage IIIB. We did not conduct adjuvant therapies and all four patients have been alive without having recurrence.