ABSTRACT
Neuroendocrine gastrointestinal tumours are derived from the neuroendocrine cell system. These tumours have widely differing clinical presentations that reflect both their organ of origin and syndromes related to excess hormone production. The neuroendocrine gastrointestinal tumours are divided into two main groups, carcinoid tumours and endocrine pancreatic tumours. Carcinoid tumours are now described according to their organ of origin, whereas pancreatic endocrine tumours are described according to their main hormone production and related clinical syndrome (insulinomas, gastrinomas, VIPomas, glucagonomas, somatostatinomas and nonfunctioning endocrine pancreatic tumours). The first part of this chapter considers the clinical presentation and metastatic potential of primary neuroendocrine tumours. Given the rarity of these tumours, the experience of treatment of liver metastases from individual tumours is limited. Most studies combine carcinoid tumours derived from various organs of origin together with pancreatic endocrine tumours. The second part of this chapter is therefore devoted in general to the diagnosis and management of neuroendocrine hepatic metastases, albeit from a wide variety of primary tumours.
