Bronchopulmonary carcinoid with a single lymph node metastasis causing ectopic Cushing's syndrome

Abstract

Bronchial carcinoid tumors (BCTs) represent a subgroup of bronchopulmonary neuroendocrine tumors which have the ability to produce neuropeptides. Merely 2% of BCTs secrete ACTH and less than 1% of patients with Cushing's syndrome (CS) have a BCT. Typical BCTs rarely metastasize. We here present a patient with ectopic CS caused by a typical BCT, which metastasized into a lymph node. This case suggests that the diagnostic work up of CS should be wide and include ectopic ACTH-secreting BCT, and that ACTH secretion can be correlated to a more aggressive type of typical BCTs.