Clinico-pathological characteristics and prognosis of 40 patients with gastric neuroendocrine carcinoma

Abstract

Objective To analyze the clinico-pathological characteristics and prognostic factors of patients with gastric neuroendocrine carcinoma(G-NEC).Methods Clinical data of 40 cases of G-NEC form January 2003 to August 2013 at Ren Ji Hospital of Shanghai Jiaotong University were analyzed.Tumors were classified into different grades and stages according to the 2010 WHO classification and the 2006 European neuroendocrine tumor society (ENETS).Follow-up was conducted by telephone.The survival curves were drawn using Kaplan-Meier method.Univariate analysis was performed by the Log-rank test and multivariate analysis was performed by the COX proportional hazards model.Results Among the 40 G-NECs patients,29 were male(72％) and 11 were female(28％),with an median age of 61 years.Tumors located in the gastric cardia in 20 cases,in the gastric antrum in 11 cases and in the gastric body in 9 cases.Tumor ranged from 1 cm-20 cm.All patients were G-NEC (G3).Follow-up rate was 100％ (40/40).The median overall survival rate was 12 months,and one-year survival rate was 82％.Immunohistochemically G-NEC cells were positive for CgA and Syn in 11 cases.Gender (x2 =5.673,P ＜ 0.05),Ki-67 index (x2 =8.612,P ＜ 0.05),and lymphnode involvement (x2 =0.559,P ＜ 0.05) were prognostic factors of G-NEC patients.Conclusions The symptoms of G-NEC are nonspecific.Its diagnosis relies on pathological examination and immunohistochemistry.Syn and CgA are the most important markers.Female gender,lower Ki-67 index and lower lymph node metastasis predict a survival advantage. Key words: Neuroendocrine tumors ; Pathology, clinical; Prognosis