[Association of Recklinghausen's disease with carcinoid of Vater's ampulla. A new nosologic entity: apudoma. A case].

The coexistence of neurofibromatous skin lesions and carcinoid of Vater's ampulla is not fortuitous. The melanocytes in the brownish pigmented skin lesions bind DOPA, while the chromaffin cells in the digestive tumour contain cytoplasmic granules where precursors of amines with digestive activity are synthetized and stored. DOPA is one of these precursors. Both diseases, therefore, are interrelated by a common embryological origin: the neural crest.