A systematic review and meta-analysis of the diagnosis and surgical management of carcinoid heart disease.

Introduction: Carcinoid heart disease (CHD), a complication of carcinoid syndrome (CS), is a rare condition that can lead to right sided valvular heart disease and has been traditionally associated with a poor prognosis. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to explore the accuracy of biomarkers and echocardiography in diagnosing CHD amongst patients who are already known to have neuroendocrine tumours and to assess whether surgical management of CHD leads to a reduction in mortality.

Methods: A systematic literature search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, EBM Reviews, Google Scholar, ClinicalTrials.