The Significant Influence of the Neuroendocrine Component on the Survival of Patients with Gastric Carcinoma Characterized by Coexisting Exocrine and Neuroendocrine Components

Abstract EN

Background.

Gastric adenocarcinoma patients with a neuroendocrine (NE) component are frequently observed in routine practice.

Several previous studies have investigated the influence of a NE component on the survival of these patients; however, the results were inconsistent.

Methods.

We retrospectively investigated a consecutive series of 95 gastric adenocarcinoma patients with a NE component and 190 gastric adenocarcinoma patients without a NE component.

We adopted 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, and 90% as the cut-off proportions of the NE component, respectively, and analyzed the patients’ overall survival according to the proportion of the NE component.

Results.

The 1-, 3-, and 5-year actual survival rates of the patients with a NE component were 90.1%, 72.3%, and 67.2%, respectively, and for those without a NE component 94.2%, 79.3%, and 75.7%, respectively.

The multivariate analysis showed that the patients with NE components >70% (HR: 2.156; 95% CI: 1.011, 4.597; p=0.047) and >90% (HR: 2.476; 95% CI: 1.088, 5.634; p=0.031) had significantly worse survival than those without a NE component.

Only the diameter of tumors (>4.64 cm) (HR: 2.585; 95% CI: 1.112, 6.006; p=0.027) and pN3 (HR: 2.953; 95% CI: 1.051, 8.293; p=0.040) were independently associated with worse overall survival for gastric adenocarcinoma patients with a NE component (all p<0.05).

Conclusion.

Gastric adenocarcinoma patients with a NE component >70% and >90% have significantly worse survival than those without a NE component.

Only the diameter of tumors and the number of metastatic lymph nodes are independent prognostic factors for gastric adenocarcinoma patients with a NE component.