Thirty-year survival with an untreated malignant duodenal somatostatinoma

Gastrointestinal somatostatinomas are rare. Only 56 cases with duodenal ori gin have been reported in the literature. The long-term course of an untrea ted tumor like this is unknown. We report a case of a male patient who lived 30 yr with an untreated metast atic duodenal somatostatinoma. This case suggests that a duodenal somatosta tinoma may be of low malignant potential and that expectancy when treating this tumor might be indicated.