Zollinger–Ellison syndrome is rare disease in which tumors cause the stomach to produce too much acid, resulting in peptic ulcers. Symptoms include abdominal pain and diarrhea.
An adenoma is a benign tumor of epithelial tissue with glandular origin, glandular characteristics, or both. Adenomas can grow from many glandular organs, including the adrenal glands, pituitary gland, thyroid, prostate, and others. Some adenomas grow from epithelial tissue in nonglandular areas but express glandular tissue structure. Although adenomas are benign, they should be treated as pre-cancerous. Over time adenomas may transform to become malignant, at which point they are called adenocarcinomas. Most adenomas do not transform. However, even though benign, they have the potential to cause serious health complications by compressing other structures and by producing large amounts of hormones in an unregulated, non-feedback-dependent manner. Some adenomas are too small to be seen macroscopically but can still cause clinical symptoms.
Enterochromaffin (EC) cells are a type of enteroendocrine cell, and neuroendocrine cell. They reside alongside the epithelium lining the lumen of the digestive tract and play a crucial role in gastrointestinal regulation, particularly intestinal motility and secretion. They were discovered by Nikolai Kulchitsky.
Carcinoid syndrome is a paraneoplastic syndrome comprising the signs and symptoms that occur secondary to neuroendocrine tumors. The syndrome is caused by neuroendocrine tumors most often found in the gut releasing biologically active substances into the blood causing symptoms such as flushing and diarrhea, and less frequently, heart failure, vomiting and bronchoconstriction.
Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN-1) is one of a group of disorders, the multiple endocrine neoplasias, that affect the endocrine system through development of neoplastic lesions in pituitary, parathyroid gland and pancreas. Individuals suffering from this disorder are prone to developing multiple endocrine and nonendocrine tumors. It was first described by Paul Wermer in 1954.
A VIPoma or vipoma is a rare endocrine tumor that overproduces vasoactive intestinal peptide. The incidence is about 1 per 10,000,000 per year. VIPomas usually originate from the non-β islet cells of the pancreas. They are sometimes associated with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1. Roughly 50–75% of VIPomas are malignant, but even when they are benign, they are problematic because they tend to cause a specific syndrome: the massive amounts of VIP cause a syndrome of profound and chronic watery diarrhea and resultant dehydration, hypokalemia, achlorhydria, acidosis, flushing and hypotension, hypercalcemia, and hyperglycemia. This syndrome is called Verner–Morrison syndrome (VMS), WDHA syndrome, or pancreatic cholera syndrome (PCS). The eponym reflects the physicians who first described the syndrome.
Gastrinomas are neuroendocrine tumors (NETs), usually located in the duodenum or pancreas, that secrete gastrin and cause a clinical syndrome known as Zollinger–Ellison syndrome (ZES). A large number of gastrinomas develop in the pancreas or duodenum, with near-equal frequency, and approximately 10% arise as primary neoplasms in lymph nodes of the pancreaticoduodenal region.
5-Hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) is the main metabolite of serotonin. In chemical analysis of urine samples, 5-HIAA is used to determine serotonin levels in the body.
Small intestine cancer starts when cells in the small intestine start to grow out of control. The small intestine is the largest part of the gastrointestinal tract, which processes food for energy and rids the body of solid waste. The small intestine is not as common as other cancers of the GI tract such as colon, rectal, stomach, and esophageal cancers in the United States. They account for fewer than 1 in 10 cancers in the GI tract, and fewer than 1 in 100 cancers overall.
Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) are neoplasms that arise from cells of the endocrine (hormonal) and nervous systems. They most commonly occur in the intestine, where they are often called carcinoid tumors, but they are also found in the pancreas, lung, and the rest of the body.
Appendix cancer are very rare cancers of the vermiform appendix.
Enteroendocrine cells are specialized cells of the gastrointestinal tract and pancreas with endocrine function. They produce gastrointestinal hormones or peptides in response to various stimuli and release them into the bloodstream for systemic effect, diffuse them as local messengers, or transmit them to the enteric nervous system to activate nervous responses. Enteroendocrine cells of the intestine are the most numerous endocrine cells of the body. They constitute an enteric endocrine system as a subset of the endocrine system just as the enteric nervous system is a subset of the nervous system. In a sense they are known to act as chemoreceptors, initiating digestive actions and detecting harmful substances and initiating protective responses. Enteroendocrine cells are located in the stomach, in the intestine and in the pancreas. Microbiota play key roles in the intestinal immune and metabolic responses in these enteroendocrine cells via their fermentation product, acetate.
Lanreotide, sold under the brand name Somatuline among others, is a medication used in the management of acromegaly and symptoms caused by neuroendocrine tumors, most notably carcinoid syndrome. It is a long-acting analogue of somatostatin, like octreotide.
A paraneoplastic syndrome is a syndrome that is the consequence of a tumor in the body. It is specifically due to the production of chemical signaling molecules by tumor cells or by an immune response against the tumor. Unlike a mass effect, it is not due to the local presence of cancer cells.
Hormonal therapy in oncology is hormone therapy for cancer and is one of the major modalities of medical oncology, others being cytotoxic chemotherapy and targeted therapy (biotherapeutics). It involves the manipulation of the endocrine system through exogenous or external administration of specific hormones, particularly steroid hormones, or drugs which inhibit the production or activity of such hormones. Because steroid hormones are powerful drivers of gene expression in certain cancer cells, changing the levels or activity of certain hormones can cause certain cancers to cease growing, or even undergo cell death. Surgical removal of endocrine organs, such as orchiectomy and oophorectomy can also be employed as a form of hormonal therapy.
Medullary thyroid cancer is a form of thyroid carcinoma which originates from the parafollicular cells, which produce the hormone calcitonin. Medullary tumors are the third most common of all thyroid cancers and together make up about 3% of all thyroid cancer cases. MTC was first characterized in 1959.
Endocrine oncology refers to a medical speciality dealing with hormone producing tumors, i.e. a combination of endocrinology and oncology.
Cancer symptoms are changes in the body caused by the presence of cancer. They are usually caused by the effect of a cancer on the part of the body where it is growing, although the disease can cause more general symptoms such as weight loss or tiredness. There are more than 100 different types of cancer with a wide range of signs and symptoms which can manifest in different ways.
Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours, often referred to as "islet cell tumours", or "pancreatic endocrine tumours" are neuroendocrine neoplasms that arise from cells of the endocrine (hormonal) and nervous system within the pancreas.
A small intestine neuroendocrine tumor is a carcinoid in the distal small intestine or the proximal large intestine. It is a relatively rare cancer and is diagnosed in approximately 1/100000 people every year. In recent decades the incidence has increased. The prognosis is comparatively good with a median survival of more than 8 years. The disease was named by Siegfried Oberndorfer, a German pathologist, in 1907.
