Different problems are associated with this disease. Like the neuroendocrine cells they come from, carcinoid tumors can secrete hormones and other chemicals into your body. Carcinoid tumors may produce serotonin, a chemical that helps regulate your mood, appetite and sensory perception. The chemicals from carcinoids can cause a number of medical problems. These and other complications of carcinoid tumors include:

·        Carcinoid syndrome. Carcinoid syndrome is a result of the hormones made by carcinoid tumors. The condition produces redness or a feeling of warmth in your face and neck (skin flushing), diarrhea and difficulty breathing, among other signs and symptoms.

·        When carcinoid tumors secrete chemicals, your liver usually eliminates them before they have a chance to circulate throughout your system. Most people who experience carcinoid syndrome have an advanced, metastatic carcinoid tumor that has spread to the liver, where the chemicals released have a better chance of getting into the bloodstream. Exceptions to this are carcinoids in the ovaries and the lungs, which can produce signs and symptoms of carcinoid syndrome before the disease has spread.

• Heart problems. The hormones from carcinoids may cause thickening of the lining of your heart’s chambers, valves and blood vessels. It’s more common for the right side of the heart to be affected than the left. This condition often causes the valve between the upper and lower chambers on the right side of your heart to leak (tricuspid regurgitation), allowing blood to flow backward. It also leads to narrowing of the pulmonary valve — the valve that keeps blood from flowing back from your pulmonary artery to the lower right chamber of your heart (right ventricle) when the right ventricle relaxes between contractions. (Your pulmonary artery is the blood vessel that carries oxygen-poor blood from the right ventricle to your lungs.) If left untreated, these conditions may result in enlargement of your heart (cardiomegaly) and heart failure.
• Cushing’s syndrome. A carcinoid tumor in your lung may produce an excess of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), which can lead to overproduction of the hormone cortisol. This is known as Cushing’s syndrome, a condition that occurs when your body is exposed to high levels of cortisol for a prolonged period of time.
• Acromegaly. Carcinoid tumors in the lungs can cause your body to produce too much growth hormone. This may result in the rare hormonal disorder acromegaly, which causes your bones to increase in size, including those of your hands, feet and face.
• Intestinal obstruction. Large carcinoid tumors in the intestines can block food and fluid from passing through your small intestine or colon. If left untreated, intestinal obstruction can cause parts of your intestine to die. This tissue death can lead to perforation of the intestine, severe infection and shock.

Peptic ulcers. Some carcinoid tumors (often those in the stomach) produce large       amounts of the hormone gastrin that causes your stomach to produce excess acid. This can lead to severe stomach ulcers, bleeding and even perforation of the stomach — a condition known as Zollinger-Ellison syndrome.

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