Surgical management of rectal carcinoids: trends and outcomes from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database (1988 to 2012).

Background: Local excision of small (<10 mm) rectal carcinoids is a standard treatment. Actual patterns of care and outcomes are understudied because of the rarity of this tumor.

Methods: Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database (1988 to 2012) was interrogated for rectal carcinoid patients. Chi-square testing and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis were used to compare survival outcomes.

Results: Of all, 11,329 patients were identified-9,605 with only localized disease. The majority (77%) underwent local excision only. Full rectal resection was performed more frequently for tumors greater than 10 mm (11.7% to 12.2%) than for tumors less than 10 mm (4.5% to 4.9%, P < .001), and for higher T stage (T1: 4.0%, T2: 11.4%, T3/4:30.4%, P < .001). Nonoperative management was more common after year 2000 (11.2% to 13.7%) than prior (7.4% to 8.5%, P < .001). Cancer-specific survival improved across time periods but did not differ between nonoperative, local excision, or surgical resection.

Conclusions: Nonexcisional management of small, localized rectal carcinoids is becoming more common and may offer equivalent survival to excision or resection.