[Tumors of the small intestine - clinical signs and symptoms, diagnosis and therapy (author's transl)].

66 patients suffering from tumors of the small intestine were operated upon between 1963 and 1976 in the Surgical Department of the University of Mainz Medical School. In 16 cases benign tumors were found (6 neurinoma, 4 leiomyoma, 4 lipoma, 2 polyps), in 50 cases the tumors were malignant (24 carcinoma, 20 sarcoma, 2 malignant schwannoma, 4 carcinoids). Only in 12 patients surgery was radical and no metastases found. In more than one third of the patients surgery had to be done as an emergency operation because of life threatening complications. The correct diagnosis was established preoperatively only in 57.5% of all cases. Only 5 out of 15 patients still living have survived more than 5 years. Correct interpretation of early clinical symptoms, repeated X-ray studies and additional chemotherapy may improve the prognosis of malignant tumors of the small intestine.