Neuroendocrine tumors: Ten years of experience in a Mexican oncology reference center.

Abstract

503 Background: Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) are infrequent neoplasms that originate in the neuroendocrine cells of the embryological endoderm. Few data exist about the epidemiology and clinical characteristics of these tumors in the Mexican population. Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of patients with pathology-confirmed NET treated at an Oncology Reference Center in North-East Mexico from 2010 to 2019. Clinical characteristics were recorded and an evaluation of overall survival (OS) using the Kaplan-Meier method was performed. Results: Fifty-three patients were included in the final analysis. The mean age at diagnosis was 54 +/- 16.36 years and 53% were men. Primarily affected sites were the gastroenteropancreatic tract [GEP] (47%), lung and mediastinum (21%), unknown primary (21%), and others (11%). Regarding the clinical stage at presentation, 22.6% of patients with NETs had localized disease, while 22.6% had regional spread and 54.7% were considered to have metastatic disease at diagnosis. Median OS was 42 months for all patients with NETs. In the GEP group, the median OS was 64 months, whereas for the lung/ mediastinum group was 8 months and for the unknown primary group was 5 months. Median OS stratified by stage was as follows: Localized disease: Not reached (NR), locoregional (20 months), and metastatic disease (8 months). Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first study published in English literature reporting the clinical characteristics and survival of Mexican patients with NETs. It is necessary to expand the information regarding these neoplasms to improve access of these patients to standard treatments and therefore improve their outcomes.