Neuroendocrine Cancer Diarrhea- building the jigsaw: Bile Acid Malabsorption
With Neuroendocrine Cancer patients, the mention of "diarrhea" is a topical subject. There's the usual claim that it's caused by carcinoid syndrome and for some that will be true, particularly people who have tumours associated with that syndrome, that is, those who have mostly a midgut primary; and that is, those who mostly have elevated levels of serotonin (via 5HIAA testing). When you look at epidemiology data, it becomes clear the numbers associated with carcinoid syndrome are much lower than what might be perceived when analysing many comments in any patient group - most epidemiological data suggests around 10% of the total number of NET cases. There are a number of reasons for this confusion including the belief that any type of Neuroendocrine Cancer can get carcinoid syndrome when in fact…
