"There were no symptoms before, during and after," says Carol Porter, patient.
Unbeknownst to Carol Porter - she had a neuroendocrine tumor... cancer. She had no idea until she went to see a GI doctor for acid reflux. "Had a colonoscopy and endoscopy - they found a little tumor on my stomach... that's what it turned out to be."
Oncologist, Doctor Sandy Kotiah says neuroendocrine tumors are rare - they develop from hormonal cells, but scientists don't really know why. She says it can be a difficult cancer for doctors to diagnose if they don't know what they're looking for. "It's mainly found in the small bowel and what happens is a lot of people have very vague symptoms for many many years... dry flushing, diarrhea, wheezing. They'll go to their doctor and be diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome or something else, and it'll take about 5 to 7 years before they get diagnosed correctly."
Other symptoms include: abdominal pain and cramping; reddish spots or veins often on the face, chest and arms; bluish spots on the skin; heart palpitations; weight gain or loss; unstable blood pressure; unstable blood sugar.
If it's caught early, like in Carol's case, the treatment of choice is surgery. She had a small portion of her stomach removed - and her prognosis is very good.
Unbeknownst to Carol Porter - she had a neuroendocrine tumor... cancer. She had no idea until she went to see a GI doctor for acid reflux. "Had a colonoscopy and endoscopy - they found a little tumor on my stomach... that's what it turned out to be."
Oncologist, Doctor Sandy Kotiah says neuroendocrine tumors are rare - they develop from hormonal cells, but scientists don't really know why. She says it can be a difficult cancer for doctors to diagnose if they don't know what they're looking for. "It's mainly found in the small bowel and what happens is a lot of people have very vague symptoms for many many years... dry flushing, diarrhea, wheezing. They'll go to their doctor and be diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome or something else, and it'll take about 5 to 7 years before they get diagnosed correctly."
Other symptoms include: abdominal pain and cramping; reddish spots or veins often on the face, chest and arms; bluish spots on the skin; heart palpitations; weight gain or loss; unstable blood pressure; unstable blood sugar.
If it's caught early, like in Carol's case, the treatment of choice is surgery. She had a small portion of her stomach removed - and her prognosis is very good.