BACKGROUND Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is an extremely aggressive disease, commonly displaying therapy-resistant relapse. We have previously identified neuroendocrine and epithelial phenotypes in SCLC tumours and the neuroendocrine marker, pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC), correlated with worse overall survival in patients. However, the effect of treatment on these phenotypes is not understood. Th...

A group of lung neuroendocrine (NE) neoplasms are investigated in view of the possible presence of S-100 protein immunoreactivity in their cells. The selected tumours were classified according to Gould et al. (1983a) and Mosca et al. (1985). They comprise 5 carcinoids, 3 neuroendocrine carcinomas of the well-differentiated type, or peripheral carcinoids, 5 neuroendocrine carcinomas of the inter...

Little is known about patients with malignant digestive neuroendocrine tumours (MD-NETs). Although their incidence is increasing, MD-NETs remain a rare cancer, representing 1% of digestive cancers. Most MD-NETs are well-differentiated. MD-NET poorly differentiated carcinomas account for 20% of cases on average. Anatomical localisation of MD-NETs varied according to geographic region. Stage at d...

Introduction: Adrenal tumours can produce specific hormones and cause characteristic symptoms. The majority of adrenal incidentalomas are clinically silent, but some may be malignant or pose other potential threats to life. Chromogranin A (CgA) is the main, nonspecific marker of neuroendocrine tumours (NET). In the adrenals, CgA is produced by chromaffin cells localised in the adrenal medulla. ...

Patients with well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumours of the gastrointestinal tract often present with metastases and hormonal symptoms. These patients can be palliated by interventional tumour reduction and medical treatment with somatostatin analogues; no effective chemotherapy is available. Radionuclide therapy via somatostatin receptors is one new therapeutic alternative. The recognition...

Large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma of the ampulla of Vater is extremely rare. A 55 year old woman presented with an ampullary tumour causing pancreaticobiliary obstruction and a pancreaticoduodenectomy was performed. Microscopically, the tumour was diagnosed as a CD117 positive large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma with glandular differentiation. Four months later the patient developed a general...

Paragangliomas, also known as glomus tumours or chemodectomas, are neuroendocrine tumours that originate from glomus cells in paraganglia. They are derived from the embryonal neural crest. The cells are part of the sympathetic nervous system and serve as chemoreceptors. They are located in the vascular adventitia of blood vessels which include the carotid bodies in the carotid artery bifurcatio...

Pheochromocytomas are rare neuroendocrine tumours of chromaffin tissues. They are catecholamine secreting tumours which cause severe hypertension and other systemic disturbances. Of all the causes of childhood hypertension, pheochromocytoma constitutes less than 1%. We report the case of a 12 years old child who presented with hypertensive encephalopathy, confirmed histologically to be secondar...

We report on an original case of a 64 year old lady diagnosed with an extraadrenal mesenteric paraganglioma associated with an incidental histological finding of a gallbladder paraganglion. Paragangliomas are rare neuroendocrine, neural crest-derived tumours, found in diverse locations and display variable catecholamine secreting behaviour. Malignant potential can be difficult to predict on his...

The somatostatin analogue octreotide may be used in the diagnosis of carcinoid and other neuroendocrine tumours. Radionuclide scanning following intravenous injection of 111Indium-labelled octreotide (111In-DTPA-pentetreotide) provides a sensitive, non-invasive method of localising somatostatin-positive tumours. The technique may also be used to identify patients who may respond to 'cold' octre...