Abstract 223P
Background
Lung carcinoid (LC) tumors are uncommon neuroendocrine epithelial neoplasms that account for less than 1% of all lung cancers. They are divided into two subcategories: typical carcinoids and atypical carcinoids. About 80% of LC occurs centrally. Patients with LC are treated with surgical resection even though several authors are promoting the role of bronchoscopic procedures as avant-garde. Because of this discussion we undertake such a study to decide on the treatment of choice.
Methods
We retrospectively investigated the medical records of 32 patients with LC treated in our clinic in the last five years, of which 21 (80.1%) were treated surgically from the first moment, 11 were initially treated with bronchoscopic cryotherapy of which 6 subsequently treated definitively with surgery. Of the patients, 51.4% were male and 48.6% female, with a mean age of 40 years. Data were statistically analyzed using Anova and Chisquare tests.
Results
There were no cases of complications among the primary or secondary surgically treated patients. The mean number of days of postoperative hospitalization for all surgical cases was 6.2 ± 1.73. As regards the patients treated with bronchoscopic cryotherapy, only in one case was the procedure performed in two stages. In the other cases, at least 4 procedures were performed, but it was not possible to estimate the days of hospitalization because they were sometimes treated on an outpatient basis. In 6 cases the bronchoscopic procedure failed to treat the carcinoid and subsequently the patients were referred for surgical treatment. There was no statistically significant association between surgical method and postoperative hospitalization. In 93.7% of cases the carcinoid was typical while in 2 cases the carcinoid was accompanied by Cushing's syndrome. Regarding the surgically treated patients, 2 of them had a wedge resection, 18 of them had a lobectomy, 3 of them had a broncho-sleeve lobectomy, and 3 of them had a bilobectomy.
Conclusions
We concluded that surgical treatment is a safer procedure with better patient outcomes and a reasonable treatment cost. Lobectomy is the surgical technique of choice. A wedge resection is preferred in peripheral carcinoids and is often sufficient.
Legal entity responsible for the study
F.S. Caushi
Funding
Has not received any funding.
Disclosure
All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.