A rare presentation of a neuroendocrine tumor

SK Attili; A Choudhury; S Roy|#Chowdhury; GI Varughese; PH Davies

P64

Prev Next

Section Contents Cite

Endocrine Abstracts (2004) 8 P64

SFE2004 Poster Presentations Neuroendocrinology and behaviour (12 abstracts)

A rare presentation of a neuroendocrine tumor

SK Attili ¹ , A Choudhury ¹ , S Roy Chowdhury ² , GI Varughese ² & PH Davies ¹

Err

Author affiliations

¹Department of Endocrinology, Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, West Midlands, U.K.; ²Department of Endocrinology, Princess Royal Hospital, Telford, Shropshire, U.K.

Carcinoid tumours are the most common neuroendocrine tumors with an estimated incidence of 7-13/ million population. The clinical symptoms of carcinoid tumours usually relate to presence of the carcinoid syndrome, local symptoms or metastases. Most are asymptomatic with only 10% manifesting the 'carcinoid syndrome'. We report an 86 year-old lady referred for evaluation of multiple subcutaneous, nodules around her neck and upper back, with a suspicion of underlying lymphoproliferative disease. The patient had noticed these painless lumps for 6 weeks. She did not complain of any systemic symptoms, but on direct questioning admitted to a history of intermittent watery diarrhoea and weight loss over the last 6 months. Biopsy of a nodule revealed a poorly differentiated high-grade malignant neoplasm. Immunohistochemistry was positive for chromogranin, CAM 5.2, CK7, AE1 and AE2, but negative for LCA, CD20, S100, UCHL-1, CK20 and melan-A. Thus it was consistent with metastatic neuroendocrine carcinoma. Cutaneous metastasis is very uncommon and usually represents terminal disease. Presentation of carcinoid tumour as cutaneous metastases is extremely rare, with only a few reported cases.