Bronchial carcinoid tumours were in the past defined as benign and classified as
“bronchial adenomas”. Currently bronchial carcinoid tumours are considered to be part of a
spectrum of malignant neoplasms with neuroendocrine differentiation. Bronchial carcinoid
tumours are classified by pathologic features as typical carcinoid tumours or atypical
carcinoid tumours with different clinical course prognosis. The most common symptoms
are cough, hemoptysis and recurrent pulmoner infection. Paraneoplastic syndromes are
uncommon and include Carcinoid syndrome, Cushing’s syndrome, and ectopic growth
hormone-releasing hormone secretion. Bronchial carcinoid tumours are generally central
location for this reason being visible by bronchoscopy. Endobronchial biopsy via
bronchoscopy is safe, with a very low risk of bleeding. Atypical carcinoid tumours affected
preferentially patients older than typical carcinoid tumours and demonstrated a more
aggressive oncological behaviour with a high percentage of nodal involvement and distant
metastases. The primary treatment is complete surgical resection (especially parenchymasparing
procedures for typical carcinoid tumours) and formal mediastinal lymph node
dissection. Long term prognosis is excellent in typical carcinoid tumours, although it is
worse in atypical carcinoid tumours.
Keywords: Bronchial carcinoid, Neuroendocrine lung tumours, Bronchoplastic
procedures.
