Objective: To analyze the clinicopathological features and prognostic factors of gastric neuroendocrine carcinoma(NEC) based on a multicenter database from five medical centers in Southern China.
Methods: Clinical and pathological data of 1 183 gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms patients between January 2006 and December 2015 from five centers were retrospectively analyzed. A total of 156 gastric NEC cases(13.2%) with complete follow-up information were screened and included in the study, wherein 73 cases from Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, 27 cases from Nanfang Hospital of Southern Medical University, 26 cases from The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, 15 cases from Guangdong General Hospital and 15 cases from Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University. The overall survival rate was calculated by using Kaplan-Meier method. The prognostic factor was analyzed using the Cox proportional hazards model.
Results: In 156 NEC patients, the ratio of male to female was 3.9 vs 1.0, the median age was 61 years old, and the maximal tumor diameter was (4.5±2.3) cm. There were 12 case(7.7%) with functional tumors. At the initial diagnosis, there were 111 patients (71.2%) with regional lymph node metastases and 58 patients (37.2%) with distant metastases. One hundred and twenty-three patients (78.8%) underwent surgical treatment and 94 patients (60.3%) received systematic treatment. There were 31 patients(19.9%) in localized disease stage, 67 patients (42.9%) in regional disease stage and 58 patients(37.2%) in distant disease stage. The 5-year overall survival rate was 44.7%. Cox regression model showed that surgical treatment (HR=0.512, 95%CI:0.287 to 0.912, P=0.023) and clinical stage(HR=1.488, 95%CI:1.067 to 2.076, P=0.019) were independent prognostic factors. The 5-year overall survival rate of patients with and without surgical treatment were 54.6% and 10.9%(P=0.000). Meanwhile, the 5-year overall survival for localized, regional and distant disease stages were 66.1%, 56.1% and 21.1% respectively(P=0.000).
Conclusions: Gastric neuroendocrine carcinoma is a group of rare tumors with strong invasiveness, high malignancy and poor prognosis. The gastric NEC patients can benefit from surgical treatment.