FAQ - Carcinoma, Neuroendocrine
(Powered by Yahoo! Answers)

Anyone had any experience with High Grade Small Cell Neuroendocrine Carcinoma?


Diagnosis is High Grade Small Cell Neuroendocrine Carcinoma presenting between colon and pelvis (also in lymphnodes in same area). Doctor's are not sure but believe it originated from cervix or uterus. It is being treated as if it were Small Cell Lung Cancer eventhough it is NOT in the lungs.

Having a hard time finding anything online because it is apparently pretty darn rare. Any information would be greatly appreciated.
----------

This is not that uncommon. Neuroendocrine cells are all over the body so it can arise in many places other than lung (most common). It is described as small cell carcinoma, an while usually lung, can arise in many sites such as vagina, cervix, rectum, intestine, appendix, etc. They are all generally treated the same, using common small cell lung cancer regimens.
In general, limited stage disease, loosely defined as disease that can fit within one radiation portal, can be cured occasionally with chemotherapy and radiation- but this is extrapolating from lung cancer patients, where cure rates are <20% with limited stage disease. More extensive disease is not curable, though it does respond very well to chemotherapy or radiation or both.

Blessings  (+ info)

26 year old grandaughter diagonosed with neuroendocrine carcinoma Help?


The tumor was found in the cervix. Doctor's here give her a 25% survival rate. Does anyone know anything about this cancer?
----------

This is a very rare type of neuroendocrine tumor. I'd suggest that your granddaughter be seen at a major cancer center as designated by the NCI. Here is a by state listing of hospitals.

http://cancercenters.cancer.gov/cancer_centers/cancer-centers-list.html

I'd also join the ACOR carcinoid list. The type tumor your granddaughter has is one variety of carcinoid tumor. The carcinoid list is very active with over 750 members and you will be able to get accurate answers about the best Drs and cutting edge treatment for treating this type of tumor. There are some very excellent Drs in the US that specialize in treating carcinoid and neuroendocrine tumors and your granddaughter will do best in the care of these experts.

http://listserv.acor.org/archives/carcinoid.html

http://www.carcinoid.org/pcf/index.shtml

http://www.carcinoid.org/pcf/newly.shtml

http://www.carcinoid.org/

http://research.dfci.harvard.edu/neuroendocrine/

http://www.csmc.edu/4085.html

all the best to your granddaughter

Feel free to email me if you have any questions.  (+ info)

I need to know more about High Grade Neuroendocrine Carcinoma?


Rescuela - There are high grade neuroendocrine carcinomas (HGNC) that arise in different parts of the body = lung, stomch, intestines, uterine cervix. Usually they are tumors with a poor outlook for the future.  (+ info)

Metastasized Neuroendocrine Carcinoma into the Liver.?


My mom just got diagnosed with Neuroendocrine Carcinoma that has metastasized into her liver. She is being treated with Chemotherapy, but they say that it is not a very effective form for treating that diagnosis. Does anyone else have any experience with this type of cancer or have any good, credible information?

Thanks
----------

You do not say where your mother's primary tumor was located and exactly what type neuroendocrine tumor she has. However you probably know that if the tumor has metastasized to her liver that this is a negative development. Without more info about all I can tell you is to make sure your mom is being treated by Drs who have plenty of experience in treating neuroendocrine tumors. Ask if the mets to her liver could be treated by chemo administered by hepatic artery embolization. This allows a very high dose of chemotherapy drug to be administered directly to the tumor without having to be processed by the liver first.
Some neuroendocrine tumors are treatable with various types of radiation therapy but your mom's Dr must have a good reason to be using chemo first.

Much of the info that applies to carcinoid tumors also applies to neuroendocrine tumors and sometimes the terms are used interchangeably so maybe the extensive carcinoid.org web page will be of some use to you.
http://www.carcinoid.org/
Wikipedia also has a good summary.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroendocrine_tumors

There is a very active mailing list for carcinoid and neuroendocrine tumors available at ACOR. They currently have 753 members so I suggest that you join here.
http://listserv.acor.org/archives/carcinoid.html

good luck to you both  (+ info)

What is "small-cell neuroendocrine carcinoma" and are there any doctors that specialize in this type of cancer


Go see an oncologist. Neuroendocrine tumors can be fast growing or slow growing (carcinoid). A basic oncologist will know what to do.  (+ info)

Would any one plz tell me treatment for metastatic neuroendocrine carcinoma.?


An abnormal tissue near the Duodenum when tested resulted in Metastatic Neuroendocrine carsinoma. Plz help me in this.
----------

what you are describing is a cancer between the hormonal and nervous system. Below are some treatment therapies:

[edit] Surgery and chemotherapy
Surgery is the only therapy that can cure GEP-NETs. However, the typical delay in diagnosis, giving the tumor the opportunity to metastasize, makes most GEP-NETs ineligible for surgery (non-resectable).

There is "no established standard therapy for the liver metastasis of pancreatic endocrine tumors" (Sato et al. 2000, [12]). The most common nonsurgical therapy for all GEP-NETs is chemotherapy, although chemotherapy is reported to be largely ineffective for carcinoids, not particularly durable (long-lasting) for PETs, and inappropriate for PETs of nonpancreatic origin.

When chemotherapy fails, the most common therapy, in the United States, is more chemotherapy, with a different set of agents. Some studies have shown that the benefit from one agent is not highly predictive of the benefit from another agent, except that the long-term benefit of any agent is likely to be low.

Strong uptake of somatostatin analogs is a negative indication for chemo.


[edit] Symptomatic relief
There are two major somatostatin-analog-based targeted therapies. The first of the two therapies provides symptomatic relief for patients with secretory tumors. In effect, somatostatin given subcutaneously or intramuscularly "clogs up" the receptors, blocking the secretion of hormones from the tumor cells. Thus a patient who might otherwise die from severe diarrhea caused by a secretory tumor can gain additional years of life.

Specific counter-hormones or other hormone-blocking medications are sometimes also used to provide symptomatic relief.


[edit] Hormone-delivered radiotherapy
The second of the two major somatostatin-analog-based targeted therapies is called peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT), though we might simply call it hormone-delivered radiotherapy. In this form of radioisotope therapy (RIT), radioactive substances (called radionuclides or radioligands) are chemically conjugated with hormones (peptides or neuroamines); the combination is given intravenously to a patient who has good uptake of the chosen hormone. The tumor cells pull the hormone to them, and the attached radiation kills nearby cells. In patients with strongly overexpressing tumor cells, nearly all the radiation either sticks to the tumors or is excreted in urine. As Rufini et alia say, GEP-NETs "are characterized by the presence of neuroamine uptake mechanisms and/or peptide receptors at the cell membrane, and these features constitute the basis of the clinical use of specific radiolabeled ligands, both for imaging and therapy" (Rufini, Calcagni, and Baum 2006, [13]).

The use of PRRT for GEP-NETs is similar to the use of iodine-131 as a standard therapy (in use since 1943) for nonmedullary thyroid tumors (which are not GEP-NETs). Thyroid cells (whether normal or neoplastic) tend to be avid for iodine, and nearby cells are killed when iodine-131 is infused into the bloodstream and is soon attracted to thyroid cells. Similarly, overexpressing GEP-NET cells (neoplastic cells only) are avid for somatostatin analogs, and nearby cells are killed when radionuclides attached to somatostatin analogs are infused into the bloodstream and are soon attracted to the tumor cells. In both therapies, hormonal targeting delivers a much higher dose of radiation than external beam radiation could safely deliver.

As of 2006, PRRT is available in at least dozen medical centers in Europe. In the USA it is FDA-approved, and available at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, but using a radionuclide, indium-111, that is vastly weaker than the lutetium-177 and the even stronger yttrium-90 used on the European continent. In the UK, only the radionuclide metaiodobenzylguanidine (I-MIBG) is licensed (but GEP-NETs are rarely avid for MIBG). PRRT with lutetium or yttrium is nowhere an "approved" therapy, but the German health insurance system, for example, covers the cost for German citizens.

MIBG therapy was developed in the 1980s and PRRT in the 1990s, and practitioners continue to refine their choices of radionuclides to maximize damage to tumors, of somatostatin analogs to maximize delivery, of chelators to bind the radionuclides with the hormones (and chelators can also increase uptake), and of protective mechanisms to minimize damage to healthy tissues (especially the kidneys).


[edit] Hepatic artery-delivered therapies
One therapy for liver metastases of GEP-NETs is hepatic artery embolization (HAE). Larry Kvols, of the Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa, Florida, says that "hepatic artery embolization has been quite successful. During that procedure a catheter is placed in the groin and then threaded up to the hepatic artery that supplies the tumors in the liver. We inject a material called embospheres [tiny spheres of glass or resin, also called microspheres] into the artery and it occludes the blood flow to the tumors, and in more than 80% of patients the tumors will show significant tumor shrinkage" (Kvols 2002, [14]). HAE is based on the observation that tumor cells get nearly all their nutrients from the hepatic artery, while the normal cells of the liver get about 75 percent of their nutrients (and about half of their oxygen) from the portal vein, and thus can survive with the hepatic artery effectively blocked. [9]

Another therapy is hepatic artery chemoinfusion, the injection of chemotherapy agents into the hepatic artery. Compared with systemic chemotherapy, a higher proportion of the chemotherapy agents are (in theory) delivered to the lesions in the liver. [10]

Hepatic artery chemoembolization (HACE), sometimes called transarterial chemoembolization (TACE), combines hepatic artery embolization with hepatic artery chemoinfusion: embospheres bound with chemotherapy agents, injected into the hepatic artery, lodge in downstream capillaries. The spheres not only block blood flow to the lesions, but by halting the chemotherapy agents in the neighborhood of the lesions, they provide a much better targeting leverage than chemoinfusion provides.

Radioactive microsphere therapy (RMT) combines hepatic artery embolization with radiation therapy: microspheres bound with radionuclides, injected into the hepatic artery, lodge (as with HAE and HACE) in downstream capillaries. In contrast with PRRT, the lesions need not overexpress peptide receptors. (But PRRT can attack all lesions in the body, not just liver metastases.) Due to the mechanical targeting, the yttrium-labeled microspheres "are selectively taken up by the tumors, thus preserving normal liver" (Salem et al. 2002, [15]).


[edit] Other therapies
Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is used when a patient has relatively few metastases. In RFA, a needle is inserted into the center of the lesion and is vibrated at high frequency to generate heat; the tumor cells are killed by cooking.

Cryoablation is similar to RFA; a endothermic substance is injected into the tumors to kill by freezing. Cryoablation has been considerably less successful for GEP-NETs than RFA.

Interferon is sometimes used to treat GEP-NETs; its use was pioneered by Dr. Kjell Öberg at Uppsala. For GEP-NETs, Interferon is often used at low doses and in combination with other agents (especially somatostatin analogs such as octreotide). But some researchers claim that Interferon provides little value aside from symptom control.

As described above, somatostatin analogs have been used for about two decades to alleviate symptoms by blocking the production of hormones from secretory tumors. They are also integral to PRRT. In addition, some doctors claim that, even without radiolabeling, even patients with nonsecretory tumors can benefit from somatostatin analogs, which purportedly can shrink or stabilize GEP-NETs. But some researchers claim that this "cold" octreotide provides little value aside from symptom control.

Finally, therapies based on growth factor inhibitors are in the experimental stage. These inhibitors of epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFRs), of vascular endothelial growth factor receptors (VEGFRs), and of angiopoietin-related growth factor (AGF) include imatinib, sunitinib, temozolide, thalidomide, sorafenib, and panitumumab.

remember that therapies and treatments do not work for all and have different effects on different people. for more information I suggest you talk to your oncologist. good luck!  (+ info)

Where and how can Thymic Carcinoma be treated?


My husband has thymic (neuroendocrine) carcinoma...a rare cancer.
We are looking for docotors who specialize in thoracic cancers and medicines to best suit this type.
----------

Because the disease is rare you will want to reach out to others who have this type of cancer. The support groups are among the best way to find out who or where to find specialists for rare cancers.

Yahoo Support Group: Thymic Cancers
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/thymic/

Foundation for Thymic Cancer Research
http://www.thymic.org/

Resources
http://www.thymic.org/uploads/mainpdf/thymoma05_pw.pdf
http://www.thymic.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/nccn-guidelines.pdf
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/types/thymoma
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/CRI_2_3x.asp?rnav=cridg&dt=42  (+ info)

information about treatment options for sino-nasal neuroendocrine carcinoma?


Talk to a professional like I did.  (+ info)

What is a carcinoma and how is it taken out?


A relative of mine has a carcinoma on his liver that needs to be removed. Doctors say it's gonna be hard to remove it, but so far the prognosis is good.

Also, how does it differ from a regular tumor and / or regular cancer?
----------

  (+ info)

Why is basal cell carcinoma the least invasive of all cancers?


Basal Cell Carcinoma (BCC) can develop into large unsightly skin tumors but the cells rarely metasize or spread to distant sites like malignant melanoma, lung cancer, colon cancer etc.
Is it that only certain genes are involved in BCC which mean they fail to become completely immature like other tumor cells, or is it they are more liable to be attacked by the immune system? Any other ideas?
----------

Simon - Great question! Sorry that the answer is not yet known. Most cancer research efforts have been directed towards the malignant tumors which rapidly invade the blood vessels and lymph channels making their spread easily, but not malignant basal cells of basal cell carcinoma (BCC). It may be genetic, as you mention, or the BCC cells may lack certain genes and/or enzymes which would allow the cells to survive in other body locations. It is NOT likely to be related to the immune system as microscopic examination of BCC lesions do not show the tissue changes of immune-type cells adjacent to or invading the BCC as they do with other tumors. Hence, the BCC spreads by ever-widening direct growth from the primary tumor without metastases but able to invade the toughest of nearby tissues, even bone. Might you be interested in such a research career in dermatopathology?  (+ info)

1  2  3  4  5  

Leave a message about 'Carcinoma, Neuroendocrine'


We do not evaluate or guarantee the accuracy of any content in this site. Click here for the full disclaimer.