Neuroendocrine (Carcinoid) Tumor Diagnosis

In the appropriate clinical setting elevated blood levels of hormones and/or tumor markers such as chromogranin A, and serotonin may help us determine whether a hormone secreting tumor is present.
Imaging is undertaken to determine the location and extent of the tumor and often a biopsy of such a tumor is performed by ultrasound guidance.
A 24 hour collection of urine for 5HIAA is also done to find out whether this by product of serotonin is present in the urine.
Once a diagnosis of a probable hormone-secreting tumor is established, a search to localize the primary tumor and to determine whether it has metastasized is usually undertaken. The radiologic tests used for tumor localization have several important roles in formulating effective treatment.

Many tumors in the pancreas and liver are very small and can only be seen by triphasic imaging (images taken during different phases of blood flow to the liver) or using specialized imaging such as Liver MRI, Octreoscans and Pet scans. We often receive referrals for patients with tumors not visualized by simple radiologic tests.