Endocrine tumours of the digestive tract

As tumours of the small intestine are by far the most common tumours, a large proportion of this report is dedicated to tumours of this kind.

What is particular about tumours of the small intestine is that they are often encountered fortuitously in the course of surgery for intestinal blockage, and therefore by many duty digestive surgeons, often not specialists in this kind of tumour.

These lesions have specific properties which impact the way they are treated therapeutically: possible carcinoid syndrome, highly differentiated and usually slow growing, multiple, sometimes familial, mesenteric ganglia leading to the well-established retractile mesenteritis which can require resection of the large intestine.

This report deals with all these points and offers the reader the experience of the most experienced practitioners in France in areas of knowledge as varied as anatomopathology, medical aspects and, most importantly, surgical aspects. Techniques concerning lesion excision, lymph node curettage and resection of the small intestine are all described in this book.

CONTENTS

• Neuroendocrine tumours of the small intestine: definition, anatomopathological characteristics, classification
• Specific diagnostic and therapeutic aspects of neuroendocrine tumours of the intestine
• Principles of surgical treatment of primitive  neuroendocrine tumours of the intestine
• Perioperative anaesthetic management of  primitive  neuroendocrine tumours of the small intestine
• Preoperative classification of lymph node extensions of primitive  neuroendocrine tumours of the intestine (carcinoids)  factors predicting difficulties in surgical excision
• Specific diagnostic and therapeutic aspects of tumours of the appendix
• Specific diagnostic and therapeutic aspects of neuroendocrine tumours of the colon and rectum
• Surgical treatment of hepatic metastases of neuroendocrine tumours
• Role of liver transplantation in  the treatment of hepatic metastases of neuroendocrine tumours
• Chemotherapy for well differentiated neuroendocrine tumours of the small intestine
• Nuclear medicine techniques for imaging and treatment of neuroendocrine tumours of the digestive tract
• French Association of Surgery series