Carcinoid tumors are characteristically slowly growing tumors that may go unrecognized for many years (due to vague symptoms, the average time from the onset of symptoms to the diagnosis is 9 years).
When there are prominent symptoms of this syndrome, the disease is already in an advanced stage with typical metastasis in liver.
Surgery is performed to resect primary tumor and isolated liver metastases.
Other possible therapies are chemoembolization of liver metastases, radiofrequency ablation, and sometimes, chemotherapy.
The prognosis for patients with malignant carcinoid syndrome is relatively good compared to the prognosis for patients with other malignancies.