November Is Carcinoid Syndrome Awareness Month

The Zebra-Stripes Print Ribbon Is The Emblem For Neuroendocrine Tumors 

Carcinoid syndrome is a rare ailment characterized by some systemic symptoms, including an accelerated heart rate, difficulty with breathing, flushing, and diarrhea. It happens when a rare type of tumor called a carcinoid tumor produces too many hormones that have effects everywhere in the entire body. 

What Is Carcinoid Syndrome?

Carcinoid syndrome is diagnosed with blood and urine tests, imaging examinations, and biopsy. The symptoms can be compliant with medication, and resection of the tumor is the most definitive method, although full removal may not always be possible.

Carcinoid syndrome typically happens in people who have advanced carcinoid tumors. Treatment for carcinoid syndrome normally includes treating cancer. But, because most carcinoid tumors don't produce carcinoid syndrome till they're advanced, a cure may not be feasible. In those situations, medications may reduce patients’ carcinoid syndrome symptoms and help them feel more comfortable.

Causes Of Carcinoid Syndrome

The underlying cause of carcinoid tumors persists to be unclear. Some studies have proposed risk factors such as smoking and diet, however, additional research is required to verify these conclusions. In the bulk of cases, tumors are slow-growing and can create hormonal chemical substances such as serotonin, bradykinins, tachykinins, and prostaglandins. If the original carcinoid cells spread to the liver, these substances are no longer metabolized to their inactive form and are instead delivered into the systemic circulation, making the signs and symptoms of carcinoid syndrome. When tumors affect organs other than the gastrointestinal tract, such as the ovaries, carcinoid syndrome can happen in the absence of liver metastases.

Why Is Carcinoid Cancer Ribbon Zebra-Striped?

People often ask: why the zebra for carcinoid and neuroendocrine cancer awareness? 

In medical school, students are told, “When you hear hoofbeats, you assume it’s horses, not zebras.”  This is analogous to what happens in medicine. Physicians are taught to focus on the most likely possibilities when making a diagnosis, not the unusual ones.  Sometimes physicians need to look for a zebra.  In the rare disease community, the zebra can be carcinoid or a related neuroendocrine tumor (NET), such as a pancreatic NET.

In the cancer world, neuroendocrine tumors are the zebras. Because of their rarity, neuroendocrine tumors make up just 2% of nationally treated cancers.

Standard Therapies For Carcinoid Cancer 

Conventional treatment is an operation, intended to remove the entire tumor where possible and reduce any metastases. In gastrointestinal tumors, this will include resection of the affected area. For bronchial lesions, procedures such as lobectomy, sleeve resection, or pneumonectomy may be needed. This depends on the place of the cancerous mass.

Once patients are diagnosed with a carcinoid tumor, their doctor will discuss the best options to treat it. The choice of the optimal treatment naturally depends on several different factors, including:

• Has cancer spread to neighboring tissue?

• Size and location of the tumor.

• Patients’ general health.

• Severity and variety of symptoms.

Surgery is oftentimes the best option for small carcinoid tumors that have not spread. It is the safest and quickest way. On the other hand, chemotherapy and radiation therapy can be used to shrink tumors, although this method is not guaranteed to be successful.

The More We Know About The Disease, The Better We Can Fight It

In general, people with neuroendocrine tumors have good life-span anticipation compared with what many other cancers allow for in realistic terms. Many people remain comparably well and start active lives again, with only occasional symptoms.

But as the tumor grows or spreads, it will produce more and more hormones, and it may finally be challenging to fully control the symptoms with medication. Patients may need further surgery or other treatments.

Regrettably, life expectancy isn't as high for a cancerous tumor that's spread to other parts of a patient’s body. This is because the surgery can’t remove all cancerous cells and tissues. Treatment can still control the symptoms and slow down the range of cancer spread.

Because of this, like with so many other types of cancer, awareness, and knowledge about the disease, about its symptoms, is crucial in the fight against this disease.  You can help, too, even just by reading and sharing this blog.