CARCINOID TUMORS - FREQUENCY IN A DEFINED POPULATION DURING A 12-YEAR-PERIOD

  • 1 January 1976
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 84  (4) , 322-330
Abstract
The frequency of carcinoids was studied in a 12-yr period (1958-1969) in Malmo, Sweden, a town with a population of 220,000 in 1958 and 250,000 in 1969. Of all persons who died in Malmo, 46% were necropsied in the 1st yr of the study and 70% in the last (altogether 62.6%). The series was examined uniformly at 1 pathology department. Carcinoid tumors were found in 1.22% (199 patients) of patients comprised in the entire necropsy series (16,294 autopsies). Bronchial carcinoid accounted for 0.1%; the remaining lesions were found in the digestive tract. About 90% of the carcinoids were found incidentally at necropsy. During the same period, 44 carcinoids were diagnosed in surgical specimens examined in Malmo. The average annual frequency of carcinoid in the entire series was about 8.4/100,000 inhabitants, about 7 times as high as that recorded in the National Cancer Register applying to the whole of Sweden. The value of such country-wide reports is discussed. The carcinoid syndrome is extremely rare and was observed only once during the entire 12-yr-period. The localization, frequency of metastases and sex-distribution of carcinoids are described and discussed in detail.

This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit: