Right Heart Failure as “Sole” Presentation of Carcinoid Syndrome

Pramod Theetha Kariyanna^1, , Mirela Andrei², Cherif Abdelmalek², Ajay Kundra², Boris Avezbakiyev², James E. O’Donnell³ and Alexander Rozin⁴

¹Department of Internal Medicine, State University of New York, Downstate Medical center, Brooklyn, N.Y, U.S.A.

²Division of Hematology-Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Brookdale University hospital and medical center, Brooklyn, N.Y, U.S.A.

³Department of Pathology, Brookdale University hospital and medical center, Brooklyn, N.Y, U.S.A.

⁴Department of Internal Medicine, Brookdale University hospital and medical center, Brooklyn, N.Y, U.S.A.

Cite this paper

Pramod Theetha Kariyanna, Mirela Andrei, Cherif Abdelmalek, Ajay Kundra, Boris Avezbakiyev, James E. O’Donnell and Alexander Rozin. Right Heart Failure as “Sole” Presentation of Carcinoid Syndrome. American Journal of Medical Case Reports. 2016; 4(8):265-271. doi: 10.12691/AJMCR-4-8-5

Abstract

Carcinoid tumors are rare neuroendocrine tumors that arise from neural crest amine precursor uptake decarboxylation cells. Most of carcinoid tumors originate in the midgut. The vasoactive secretory products of carcinoid tumor upon metastasis to liver reach systemic circulation as they bypass the metabolism by liver. 50% of patients with carcinoid syndrome eventually develop carcinoid heart disease. We here present a rare case of carcinoid tumor with metastasis to liver that solely presented with right heart failure. The patient did not have any symptoms of typical carcinoid syndrome features such as flushing, diarrhea, and bronchoconstriction.

Keywords

carcinoid syndrome, right heart failure, atypical presentation

Copyright

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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