Carcinoid syndrome: update on the pathophysiology and treatment

Approximately 30-40% of patients with well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumors present with carcinoid syndrome, which is a paraneoplastic syndrome associated with the secretion of several humoral factors. Carcinoid syndrome significantly and negatively affects patients’ quality of life; increases costs compared with the costs of nonfunctioning neuroendocrine tumors; and results in changes in patients’ lifestyle, such as diet, work, physical activity and social life. For several decades, patients with neuroendocrine tumors and carcinoid syndrome have been treated with somatostatin analogues as the first-line [...]