ENETS Consensus Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Neuroendocrine Gastrointestinal Tumors

This special issue of Neuroendocrinology focuses on neuroendocrine tumors of midgut and hindgut origin and the liver as a metastatic site of gut neuroendocrine tumors and is the necessary complement of Part 1 which was dedicated to foregut neuroendocrine tumors. Papers were generated at the Second ENETS Consensus Conference on Gastrointestinal Neuroendocrine Tumors, held in Frascati (Rome, Italy) in November 2006. Based on the current WHO classification of tumors, 56 experts and practicing clinicians confronted their experience with published evidence-based data. Reasonably effective strategies were consensually generated and standards set for the management of patients with this neglected cancer disease. The articles are organized on an anatomical basis. Specific issues are discussed and minimal consensus statements defined and highlighted for easy recognition. Topics include: Classification and Epidemiology; Clinical Presentation/Prognosis/Heredity; Diagnostic Procedures (imaging/laboratory tests); Pathology and Genetics; Surgical Therapy (curative and palliative); Locoregional Ablative Therapy; Liver Transplantation; Medical Therapy (biotherapy and chemotherapy); Peptide Receptor Radionuclide Therapy, and Follow-Up Scheduling. Readers will be able to find answers to debated questions for specific tumors, such as the diagnostic procedure for midgut classic carcinoids, follow-up for appendix carcinoids, or the algorithm for liver metastasis treatment of patients with extrahepatic spread from gut neuroendocrine carcinomas.