Clinicopathologic Features of Gastroenteropancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors: A Single-center Experience

Background

Gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors, a heterogeneous group of neoplasms, originates from the neuroendocrine system of the gastrointestinal tract and pancreas. There are limited number of studies investigating neuroendocrine tumors in Turkey.

Aims

To define the clinicopathologic, demographic, and survival features of patients with gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors.

Study Design

A retrospective observational cohort study.

Methods

We reviewed hospital records of patients and data was analyzed retrospectively. We investigated the clinical, pathological, survival features, and prognosis of patients with gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (n=128) admitted to the medical oncology department between year 2003 and 2014. Survival estimation was performed by the Kaplan-Meier method. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression models were utilized to investigate the prognostic factors for survival.

Results

Of 128 patients with gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors, 61 (47.7%) were female and 67 (52.3%) were male. The most common site of the tumor was stomach (36.7%), while the most common stage of tumor at diagnosis was stage 4 (40.9%). The median follow-up period was 37 months, while the 3- and 5-year overall survival rates were 78% and 69%, respectively. The factors significantly affecting overall survival rate were clinical stage, grade, presence of metastasis at diagnosis, and Ki-67 proliferation index. These factors were associated with the 3- and 5-year overall survival rate. Moreover, grade (hazard ratio: 8.34, 95% confidence interval: 2.16-32.22, p=0.01) and presence of metastasis at diagnosis (hazard ratio: 3.18, 95% confidence interval: 1.30-7.77, p=0.01) independently predicted overall survival in multivariate model following adjustment for age and gender.

Conclusion

Higher-grade and presence of metastasis at diagnosis are negative independent prognostic indicators of survival in patients with gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors.