CARCINOID OF THE RECTUM

Abstract

CARCINOIDS of the gastrointestinal tract are relatively uncommon. These tumors are most frequently found in the appendix, and Foot 1 reports that 0.46 per cent of all appendixes removed for appendicitis were found to contain carcinoid tumors. The next commonest site for carcinoid tumors is the small bowel, and especially the terminal portion of the ileum. Grimes and Bell 2 and Pearson and Fitzgerald 3 have published recent excellent reviews on the subject. Carcinoid tumors have also been reported in the stomach, duodenum, gallbladder, colon and Meckel's diverticula. The rectum is one of the least common locations of this lesion. Horn 4 in 1949 reviewed thoroughly all previously reported cases of carcinoid of the rectum and added six more to the literature. So far as is known to us, there have been 64 cases of carcinoid of the rectum reported or mentioned in the world literature up to the present