Histamine Antagonists and Carcinoid Flush

Abstract

To the Editor: The article by Roberts and his colleagues in the February 1 issue of the Journal described the case of a 59-year-old woman with a metastatic gastric carcinoid tumor in whom the carcinoid flush was blocked by a combination of diphenhydramine and cimetidine, which are H₁ and H₂ histamine-receptor antagonists, respectively. Recently, we treated a patient with carcinoid syndrome with similar therapy but without success.This 58-year-old woman was found to have a carcinoid tumor metastatic to the ovaries at the time of hysterectomy in 1970. The same year she underwent a right ileo-hemicolectomy for an . . .