Carcinoid heart disease: successful tricuspid valve replacement.

A woman aged 46 was found to have severe tricuspid valve disease 14 years after the diagnosis of a malignant carcinoid tumour of the ileum and 33 years after the onset of symptoms attributable to the disease. Increasing ascites requiring repeated paracentesis had not responded to chemotherapy including infusion of 5-fluorouracil and vincristine into the coeliac artery. The tricuspid valve was replaced by a Björk-Shiley prosthesis. After operation there was no recurrence of ascites or oedema. She remains well one year and 11 months later. It is suggested that valve replacement surgery should be considered more often in patients with carcinoid heart disease. Hepatomegaly and ascites sould not be attributed too readily to advancing malignant disease without careful consideration of the role of right-sided valvar lesions in the production of these signs.