Type 3 Gastric Neuroendocrine Neoplasm Clinical Features: A Multicenter Study in Korea

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate clinicopathologic features of type 3 gastric neuroendocrine neoplasm (NEN) by treatment modality. Methods: The Korean Society of Gastrointestinal Cancer conducted the Korean Gastroenteropancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumor Registry, a retrospective registry database of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors from 16 hospitals in Korea. The normal serum gastrin level range was defined as <100 pg/mL, and gastric NEN patients with normal gastrin level were selected for analysis. Results: Among 358 patients with gastric NEN, 21 (5.9%) patients were classified with type 3 gastric NEN. The median age was 53 years (range 30-74). According to the WHO 2010 classification, 13 (61.9%) patients had grade 1, and 8 (38.1%) patients had grade 2 or 3. Endoscopic treatment was performed in 14 (66.7%) patients, and surgery was performed in 7 (33.3%) patients. The tumor size was smaller in the endoscopic treatment group than in the surgery group (0.6 cm vs 1.3 cm, p=0.006). After treatment, there was one recurrence in the surgery group. Conclusion: In small size Type 3 gastric NEN, endoscopic treatment was associated with a good prognosis, compared to surgery. Thus, endoscopic treatment can be used an alternative modality in selected cases of type 3 gastric NEN.