Prognostic predictors for recurrence following curative resection in grade I/II pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours

• Published in: Langenbeck's archives of surgery 2023-05, Vol.408 (1), p.204-204, Article 204
• Main Authors: Chopde, Amit, Gupta, Amit, Chaudhari, Vikram, Parghane, Rahul, Basu, Sandip, Ostwal, Vikas, Ramaswamy, Anant, Puranik, Ameya, Shrikhande, Shailesh V., Bhandare, Manish S.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abdominal Surgery; Cardiac Surgery; General Surgery; Humans; Ki-67 Antigen; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local - pathology; Neuroectodermal Tumors, Primitive - surgery; Neuroendocrine Tumors - pathology; Pancreatectomy; Pancreatic Neoplasms - pathology; Prognosis; Retrospective Studies; Thoracic Surgery; Traumatic Surgery; Vascular Surgery
• ISSN: 1435-2451; 1435-2451
• DOI: 10.1007/s00423-023-02943-z

Introduction Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours (pNETs) have an excellent long-term survival after resection, but are associated with a high recurrence rate. Identification of prognostic factors affecting recurrences would enable identifying subgroup of patients at higher risk of recurrences, who may benefit from more aggressive treatment. Methods A retrospective analysis of prospectively maintained database of patients undergoing pancreatectomy with curative intent for grade I and II pNETs between July 2007 and June 2021 was performed. Perioperative and long-term outcomes were analysed. Results A total of 68 resected patients of pNETs were included in this analysis. Fifty-two patients (76.47%) underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy, 10 (14.7%) patients had distal pancreatectomy, and 2 (2.9%) patients underwent median pancreatectomy, while enucleation was performed in 4 patients (5.8%). The overall major morbidity (Clavien-Dindo III/IV) and mortality rates were 33.82% and 2.94%, respectively. At a median follow-up period of 48 months, 22 (32.35%) patients had disease recurrence. The 5-year overall survival and 5-year recurrence-free survival (RFS) rates were 90.2% and 60.8%, respectively. While OS was unaffected by different prognostic factors, multivariate analysis showed that lymph node involvement, Ki-67 index ≥5%, and presence of perineural invasion (PNI) were independently associated with recurrence. Conclusions While surgical resection gives excellent overall survival in grade I/II pNETs, lymph node positivity, higher Ki-67 index, and PNI are associated with a high risk for recurrence. Patients with these characteristics should be stratified as high risk and evaluated for more intensive follow-up and aggressive treatment strategies in future prospective studies.