Serotonin – the NET effect
Background I'd never heard of Serotonin until I was diagnosed with Neuroendocrine Cancer in 2010. It is frequently discussed, often with contrasting views from the respondents. One common assumption/question is that it is responsible for many things that can go wrong with Neuroendocrine Tumour (NET) patients who have serotonin-producing tumours. To a certain extent, that's true but statement such as "it's the hormones" is an easy assumption to make; or an easy answer to give in response to a complex set of circumstances. It's difficult to get a definitive answer and the science behind the behaviour of our hormones isn't…
The 50 shades of Neuroendocrine Neoplasms
If you read any authoritative source on this cancer, it will normally begin with "Neuroendocrine Neoplasms (NENs) are a group of heterogeneous tumours .............". The term heterogeneous means diverse in character or content; or a structure with dissimilar components or elements. This is not surprising as these tumours are found in Neuroendocrine cells throughout the vast majority of the human anatomy. And yet, when you look at many hospital/healthcare sites, advocate organisation sites, and cancer information sources not maintained by Neuroendocrine Cancer scientists or specialists, you might start to think there is just one big type of NET and only…