Gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms: Clinicopathologic characteristics and their correlation with prognosis

AIM: To analyze the clinicopathologic characteristics of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (GEP-NEN) and their correlation with prognosis. METHODS: Clinical data for 43 patients diagnosed pathologically with GEP-NEN in Harbin Medical University Cancer Hospital from April 2007 to April 2013 were retrospectively analyzed. Survival analysis was performed by Kaplan-Meier method. The relationship between clinicopathologic characteristics and prognosis was analyzed using the Log-rank test. Independent risk factors for prognosis were analyzed by multivariate Cox regression analysis. RESULTS: The mean age was 57.5 years, with a male-to-female ratio of 2.91:1. The most common site was stomach (19 cases, 44.19%). There were 2 cases of functional GEP-NEN (one case of glucagonoma and another case of carcinoid syndrome). Of the 43 patients, 14 received postoperative drug therapy. There were 22 deaths in 43 patients (52.38%) and one case (2.38%) was lost to follow-up. The 1- and 3-year survival rates were 70.2% and 36.9%, with a median overall survival (OS) of 16.0 months. Univariate analysis showed that tumor size (�� 5 cm), depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis and pathological grades of NEC (neuroendocrine carcinoma) and MANEC (mixed adenoneuroen docrine carcinoma) could affect the patient's prognosis (P < 0.05 for all). Age, gender, smoking, drinking, family history of cancer, surgical approach and postoperative drug therapy were not significantly associated with prognosis. Multivariate analysis showed that lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis and pathological type were independent risk factors. CONCLUSION: The stomach is the most common primary site of GEP-NEN, and GEP-NEN lacks specific clinical manifestations. Lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis and pathological type are independent risk factors. ? 2014 Baishideng Publishing Group Co., Limited. All rights reserved.