Carcinoids tumors of the digestive tract

Eighteen cases of carcinoid tumors in the digestive tract have been analyzed. They have been selected at Hospital dos Servidores do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, taking into account patients, age and sex, lesions' location and size, clinical manifestations, presence of metastases as well as a classical carcinoid syndrome establisment. Carcinoid tumors come from the digestive tract 'argenta fim'' cells, the ones which produce endocrines. Such endocrines are responsible for a great number of clinical manifestations. The classical syndrome is directly related to the presence of hepatic metastases. The authors propose to correlate what has been found with descriptions in medical literature emphasizing the radiographic aspects which have been observed. A frequent ''apendicular'' location and the difficulty of giving a precise diagnosis before surgery is also emphasized. (author)