Liver & intrahepatic bile ducts
Other malignancies
Well differentiated neuroendocrine tumor
Author: Deepali Jain, M.D.
Last author update: 1 February 2012
Last staff update: 30 September 2020
Copyright: 2002-2025, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.
PubMed Search: Carcinoid tumor[TI] liver[TI]
Table of Contents
Definition / general | Terminology | Case reports | Treatment | Gross images | Microscopic (histologic) description | Microscopic (histologic) imagesCite this page: Jain D. Well differentiated neuroendocrine tumor. PathologyOutlines.com website. https://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/livertumorcarcinoid.html. Accessed April 2nd, 2025.
Definition / general
- Very rare as primary hepatic tumor (< 100 cases reported); usually represents metastasis from GI tumor (small intestinal primaries may be very small)
- Slightly more frequent in females
- Rarely associated with Zollinger-Ellison syndrome, VIP production
- Indolent low grade clinical course with prolonged survival but recurs or metastasizes more frequently than appendiceal carcinoids (Arch Pathol Lab Med 2003;127:1200)
Terminology
- Previously termed carcinoid tumor
Case reports
- 51 year old man with Zollinger-Ellison syndrome (Cases J 2009;2:6346)
- 62 year old woman (World J Surg Oncol 2008;6:91)
Treatment
- Surgical resection
Gross images
Images hosted on other servers:
62 year old woman
with tan gray tumor
that has soft, fish
flesh cut surface
Microscopic (histologic) description
- Nested, trabecular or microacinar architecture
- Composed of small, uniform tumor cells with granular chromatin and round nuclei
- Often stromal hyalinization
Microscopic (histologic) images
Images hosted on other servers:
62 year old woman with primary hepatic carcinoid tumor
Primary liver tumor in patient with Zollinger-Ellison syndrome
Liver metastases from colon primary
