Carcinoid: the disease and its implications for anaesthesia

This article describes the features of carcinoid tumours and the challenges involved in the anaesthetic management and post-operative care of patients undergoing surgery for carcinoid. Carcinoid tumours were first described in 1888 by Lubarsch who found multiple tumours in the distal ileum of two patients at autopsy. Ransom then published the first detailed description of the classic symptoms of carcinoid 1 and Oberndorfer introduced the name when he used the term ‘karzinoide tumoren’ in 1907 because of the tumour’s similarity to carcinomas despite their apparently benign nature. Gosset and Masson realized in 1914 that carcinoid tumours were related to endocrine tissue. 2 It is the endocrine-like nature of these tumours that lead to their unusual effects, which can be a major challenge to anaesthetists.