Carcinoid Tumor Awareness Month is observed in November. Since carcinoid tumors are the most common type of neuroendocrine tumor, the entire month of November is dedicated to raising awareness. Approximately 12,000 new cases of carcinoid cancer will be diagnosed in 2015. Roughly 8,000 of these cases will be cancers of the GI tract, and the remaining 4,000 being in the lung. Since carcinoid tumors grow in the neuroendocrine system, they are different from other forms of cancer that form in the GI tract or lung tissue.

Carcinoid tumors are typically very slow growing, meaning that symptoms often do not appear for many years. Symptoms are often only noticeable when the hormones produced by the tumor are filtered into the blood through the liver.