Carcinoid tumour complicating inflammatory bowel disease: A study of two cases with review of the literature

Summary Two cases of carcinoid tumour complicating inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are presented. Both tumours were located in the appendiceal tip. The first case occurred in a man with Crohn's disease (CD), and the second one in a woman suffering from ulcerative colitis (UC). Histochemical and immunohistochemical studies were not allowed on case 1 because the tumour was not still present on serial sections of the appendix. On case 2, tumour cells were not reactive with Grimelius and Masson-Fontana stainings, but were strongly stained with anti-keratin and anti-chromogranin monoclonal antibodies (MAb), and faintly expressed neuron specific enolase (NSE) and Leu-7. Both cases occurred in inflammatory or damaged mucosa which exhibited Paneth cell metaplasia and hyperplasia and areas indefinite for dysplasia. Along with these lesions, hyperplasia of enteroendocrine cells was pointed out in the neighbouring appendiceal and colonic mucosa by means of anti-chromogranin MAb. These data suggest that the association of carcinoid tumour with IBD, albeit rare, is not coincidental and is the result of hyperplastic and dysplastic troubles that may involve enteroendocrine cells as well as such other derivatives of digestive stem cells as columnar cells, goblet cells and Paneth cells.