By using these analyses we can demonstrate very small tumors at an early stage. Treatment of carcinoid tumors Carcinoid tumors have previosly been recognized as more bening than cancer of the large intestine, breast or pancreas. Therefore a lot of physicians have adopted a hesitating attitude to treatment. After surgery most patients were not subjected to any form of medical treatment. Nowadays a more aggressive attitude to treatment is introduced and it looks as if this also has an impact on the probability of survival for patients with these diseases.
Surgery is always the primary treatment even if a complete cure is impossible to obtain.
By reducing the tumor masses in the liver, in the intestine or in the lymphnodes this will facilitate the forthcoming medical treatment. The masses of tumor in the liver can be efficiantly reduced by so called embolization of the metastases. By this procedure a small catheter is introduced into the liver artery and microspheres are injected into the hepatic artery or its brances. The particles obliterate the smallest blood vessels making anoxia of the tumor cells which are dying. This procedure can be repeated several times but the efficiancy might be reducered by development of collateral circulation from the diaphragma.