Early Identification of Cardiac Involvement in Patients With Carcinoid: Clinical and Prognostic Implications

Early Identification of Cardiac Involvement in Patients With Carcinoid: Clinical and Prognostic Implications

This study is for patients with neuroendocrine tumours (NET) with or without carcinoid syndrome followed by NET Unit of European Institute of Oncology.

The objective of the trial is to evaluate biochemical markers of myocardial injury (high-sensitive troponins), haemodyinamic markers (pro-brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), N-terminal (NT)-BNP (NT-proBNP)), and markers of fibrosis (Suppression of Tumorigenicity 2 (ST2) in patients with neuroendocrine tumours (NET) with or without carcinoid syndrome.

The main aim of this study is to evaluate blood levels of biomarkers of cardiac damage (ultra-sensitive troponin I), hemodynamic impairment (BNP, NT-proBNP), and cardiac fibrosis (ST2) in patients with diagnosed neuroendocrine tumours (NET) with or without carcinoid syndrome The secondary objective is to correlate the levels of the above markers with the presence/entity of cardiac involvement and its progression over time.

All patients will undergo:

• a baseline assessment including:

  • blood sampling for US-Troponin I, BNP, NT-proBNP, ST2
  • cardiological evaluation including ECG and echocardiogram

• a three-monthly revaluation of these markers

• a six monthly cardiological reassessment with a echocardiogram

Inclusion Criteria:

• patients diagnosed with metastatic NET with or without carcinoid referred to the Unit of Neuroendocrine Tumors of European Institute of Oncology

Exclusion Criteria:

• age <18 years
• patients diagnosed with heart disease prior to diagnosis of NET