Carcinoid Tumor Presenting as Acute Coronary Syndrome: A Case Report

Abstract

Pulmonary carcinoid tumors are neuroendocrine tumors that have an incidence of 1.2-2.1/100,000 among general population. Forty percent of patients with disseminated disease experience cardiac involvement, whither due to carcinoid heart disease or due to the vasospastic effect of secreted serotonin. Acute coronary syndrome is one of the rare entities that carinoid patients can present with. Few cases are reported in literature with similar presentation. Herein we are reporting a case of a 45-year-old Yamani male patient presented to the emergency department of our hospital with chest pain for 12 hours duration. He also reported a history of watery diarrhea for the last four months. He was diagnosed to have acute coronary syndrome. Further radiological investigations showed numerous enlarged mediastinal lymph nodes. Biopsy showed moderately differentiated neuroendocrine tumor consistent with atypical carcinoid.




J Med Cases. 2013;4(9):641-643
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4021/jmc1216w