close window
Housecall Archives
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
close window
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Treatments and drugs
By Mayo Clinic staffTreating carcinoid syndrome involves treating your cancer and may also involve using medications to control your specific signs and symptoms.
Treatments may include:
- Surgery. Surgery to remove your cancer or most of your cancer may be an option. If surgery isn't an option because your cancer is too widespread, your doctor may recommend treatment to shrink your tumors. This may reduce the signs and symptoms of carcinoid syndrome.
- Octreotide (Sandostatin). Injections of the medication octreotide may slow the rate of growth of your carcinoid tumor and reduce the signs and symptoms of carcinoid syndrome. Octreotide controls skin flushing and diarrhea in most people with carcinoid syndrome. Side effects of octreotide include abdominal pain and bloating, diarrhea and nausea, though these effects may subside with time. Some people can't tolerate the side effects of octreotide and must stop taking the drug.
- Biological therapy. An injectable medication called interferon alfa, which stimulates the body's immune system to work better, is sometimes used to slow the growth of carcinoid tumors and to relieve symptoms. This drug may be prescribed alone or in combination with octreotide. Interferon also causes significant side effects, including fatigue, bone pain, headaches and vomiting.
- Stopping blood supply to the tumor. In a procedure called hepatic artery embolization, a doctor inserts a catheter through a needle near your groin and threads it up to the main artery that carries blood to your liver (hepatic artery). The doctor injects particles designed to clog the hepatic artery, cutting off the blood supply to cancer cells that have spread to the liver. The healthy liver cells survive by relying on blood from other blood vessels. Hepatic artery embolization can be risky, especially in people with liver disease, and the procedure is typically performed only in specialized medical centers. Discuss the benefits and risks with your doctor.
- Killing cancer cells by heating or freezing. Radiofrequency ablation delivers heat through a needle to the cancer cells in the liver, causing the cells to die. Cryotherapy is similar, but it works by freezing the tumor. These treatments might be an option if you have a limited number of liver tumors that are small in size. Radiofrequency ablation and cryotherapy are generally safe, though there is a small risk of blood loss and infection.
- Chemotherapy. Chemotherapy drugs may shrink carcinoid tumors. What side effects you may experience will depend on which chemotherapy drugs you receive. Discuss your particular chemotherapy regimen with your doctor.
The prognosis for people living with carcinoid cancer varies widely, depending on the extent of tumor spread and whether carcinoid syndrome has developed. As cancer research continues, doctors are finding new ways to treat advanced cancers, which may improve survival.
References
- A review of carcinoid cancer. Carcinoid Cancer Foundation. http://www.carcinoid.org/pcf/docs/review.html#SYN. Accessed April 10, 2010.
- How are gastrointestinal carcinoid tumors diagnosed? American Cancer Society. http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/content/CRI_2_4_3X_How_is_gastrointestinal_carcinoid_tumors_diagnosed_14.asp?sitearea=. Accessed April 10, 2010.
- Carcinoid tumor. American Society of Clinical Oncology. http://www.cancer.net/patient/Cancer+Types/Carcinoid+Tumor?sectionTitle=Symptoms. Accessed April 10, 2010.
- Sitaraman SV, et al. Clinical features of the carcinoid syndrome. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed April 12, 2010.
- Sitaraman SV, et al. Treatment of carcinoid tumors and the carcinoid syndrome. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed April 12, 2010.
- Connolly HM. Carcinoid heart disease. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed April 12, 2010.
- Ghevariya V, et al. Carcinoid tumors of the intestinal tract. Southern Medical Journal. 2009;102:1032.
- Bhattacharyya S, et al. Carcinoid heart disease. Circulation. 2007;116:2860.
- Moynihan TJ (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. April 19, 2010.
Find Mayo Clinic on