Neuroendocrine neoplasms of liver - A 5-year retrospective clinico-pathological study applying World Health Organization 2010 classification

Primary hepatic neuroendocrine tumour with multiple liver metastases: A case report with literature review

INTRODUCTION AND IMPORTANCE

To describe an unusual case with a primary hepatic neuroendocrine tumour (PHNET) with multiple liver metastases.

CASE PRESENTATION

We reported a 65-year-old woman with PHNET with multiple liver metastases. She was highly suspected of having primary liver cancer with multiple intrahepatic metastases before liver biopsy, but was diagnosed with PHNET with multiple liver metastases after histopathology and immunohistochemistry (IHC) examinations. The patient successfully underwent three times of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE), and is currently living in a good state without related complications.

CLINICAL DISCUSSION

Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs), also known as carcinoids or argyrophilic tumors, are very rare malignant tumors. The liver is the main metastasis site of NETs, but primary hepatic neuroendocrine tumors (PHNETs) are extremely rare. Histopathology and immunohistochemistry (IHC) examinations are still the main methods used for diagnosing NETs. There are no treatment guidelines for PHNETs, and surgical resection is generally the preferred treatment. For PHNET patients who are not suitable for surgery, TACE has been proven to be an effective alternative treatment that can effectively reduce the tumour burden and relieve symptoms, but the current evidence is still limited.

CONCLUSION

The clinical diagnosis of PHNET still faces great challenges, imaging examinations often lead to misdiagnosis, and its diagnosis mainly depends on histopathology and immunohistochemical examinations. For PHNET patients who are not suitable for surgery, TACE may be an effective alternative therapy.

Clinical characteristics and outcome of primary hepatic neuroendocrine tumors after comprehensive therapy

BACKGROUND

Primary hepatic neuroendocrine tumors (PHNETs), a group of neuroendocrine neoplasms, are extremely rare. There are only few case reports about PHNETs in the literature. The lack of large samples and multicenter research results in poor diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.

AIM

To discuss the clinical characteristics, diagnosis, and treatment of PHNETs and risk factors related to survival.

METHODS

We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data, imaging features, immunohistochemistry data, and treatment efficacy of 40 patients who were pathologically diagnosed with PHNETs and admitted to The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from January 1, 2014 to November 15, 2019. Finally, survival analysis was performed to identify the risk factors for survival.

RESULTS

The main symptoms and signs included intermittent abdominal pain (19 patients, 47.5%) and bloating (8 patients, 20.0%). The positive rates of tested tumor markers were recorded as follows: Carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) (6 patients, 15.0%), CA72-4 (3 patients, 7.5%), carcinoembryonic antigen (7 patients, 17.5%), and alpha-fetoprotein (6 patients, 15.0%). Immunohistochemical staining results showed positivity for Syn in 38 (97.4%) of 39 patients, for chromogranin A in 17 (65.4%) of 26 patients, for CD56 in 35 (94.6%) of 37 patients, for AE1/AE3 in 28 (87.5%) of 32 patients, and for Ki-67 in all 40 (100.0%) patients. The overall survival rate was significantly related to the tumor grade, AE1/AE3, and Ki-67. No significant correlation was found between other parameters (age, gender, tumor number, tumor size, metastasis, and treatment) and overall survival.

CONCLUSION

Higher grade, negative AE1/AE3, and higher Ki-67 are associated with a worse survival rate. Kinds of treatment and other parameters have no significant influence on overall survival.

Primary hepatic neuroendocrine tumor: A case report and literature review

INTRODUCTION

Primary hepatic neuroendocrine tumors (PHNETs) are extremely rare, having less than 200 cases reported in the literature.

PRESENTATION OF CASE

A 51-year-old woman presenting with mild intensity sharp pain in the upper abdomen that started 4 years ago. Preoperative Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) suggested hepatocellular adenoma. Surgical exploration found a tumor occupying the whole segment IV of the liver, therefore a left hepatectomy was performed. Pathology and immunohistochemistry indicated to be a low-grade neuroendocrine tumor of the liver. The patient is enjoying a good quality of life, free of disease, presenting no signs of recurrence nor metastases 12 months after the procedure.

CONCLUSION

The clinical presentation of PHNETs is non-specific and its radiologic features are intensely diversified, frequently leading to misdiagnosis of other hepatic neoplasms.

Hepatic neuroendocrine tumor: A case report and literature review

BACKGROUND

A hepatic neuroendocrine tumor was diagnosed in a patient who was suspected to have a malignant tumor of the liver and underwent tumor resection. Understanding the characteristics of primary and metastatic neuroendocrine tumors has good guiding significance for clinical treatment of this disease.

CASE SUMMARY

A 56-year-old male patient had a liver-occupying lesion found in the routine physical examination. Abdominal contrast-enhanced CT suggested that the liver lesion may be a metastasis from a gastric mass. Intraoperative frozen pathological examination suggested a gastric spindle cell tumor. The liver mass was removed completely, and the pathological result revealed a neuroendocrine tumor (G2). The patient recovered well after surgery and was discharged at the fifth day after surgery.

CONCLUSION

We have reported a case of hepatic metastatic neuroendocrine tumor. Since it was difficult to distinguish between hepatic metastatic neuroendocrine tumor and hepatic carcinoma preoperatively, the complete resection of the liver tumor was performed, and the postoperative pathological examination resulted in a clear diagnosis. We therefore review the relevant literature to summarize the clinical characteristics, therapy, and prognosis of primary and metastatic neuroendocrine tumors of the liver, in order to have a deeper understanding of this disease and providence evidence for clinical decisions.

Primary Hepatic Neuroendocrine Tumor Mimicking Ruptured Hepatocellular Carcinoma with AFP Elevation: A Case Report and Literature Review

Liver cancer is a common malignant disease in China, while the primary hepatic neuroendocrine tumor (PHNET) is extremely rare presented with various manifestations. We herein describe an interesting PHNET case, which was clinically diagnosed as hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) based on strong clinical evidence and the national guideline, but confirmed to be PHNET by pathology. A42-year-old Chinese male was admitted for persistent upper abdominal pain, and CT scan revealed a huge liver tumor in the left lobe. The tumor presented attributes of tumor rupture, portal vein tumor thrombus, elevated serum AFP level, background hepatitis B virus infection history, and radiological features mimicking typical HCC. After left semi-hepatectomy was performed for curative treatment of the primary "HCC", the pathology demonstrated the correct diagnosis be poorly differentiated neuroendocrine carcinoma (NEC). The immunohistochemistry assays showed positive neuroendocrine markers of CgA and Syn and negative HCC markers of Hep Par 1 and GPC3, ruling out concurrent HCC. This case and literature review suggest that in spite of rare incidence, PHNET should be considered as a possible diagnosis when lacking a confirmative pathology result, even when sufficient evidence of typical presentation exist to establish the clinical diagnosis of HCC.

Survival comparison between primary hepatic neuroendocrine neoplasms and primary pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms and the analysis on prognosis-related factors

BACKGROUND

Primary hepatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (PHNENs) are extremely rare and few articles have compared the prognosis of PHNENs with other neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs). This study aimed to investigate the different prognosis between PHNENs and pancreatic NEN (PanNENs) and evaluate the relevant prognosis-related factors.

METHODS

From January 2012 to October 2016, a total of 44 NENs patients were enrolled and divided into two groups according to the primary tumor location which were named group PHNENs (liver; n = 12) and group PanNENs (pancreas; n = 32). Demographic, clinical characteristics and survival data were compared between the two groups with Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank tests. Prognostic factors were analyzed using the Cox regression model.

RESULTS

The overall survival of group PHNENs and group PanNENs were 25.4 ± 6.7 months and 39.8 ± 3.7 months, respectively (P = 0.037). The cumulative survival of group PanNENs was significantly higher than that of group PHNENs (P = 0.029). Univariate analysis revealed that sex, albumin, total bilirubin, total bile acid, aspartate aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, α-fetoprotein and carbohydrate antigen 19-9, histological types, treatments and primary tumor site were the prognostic factors. Further multivariate analysis indicated that albumin (P = 0.008), histological types NEC (P = 0.035) and treatments (P = 0.005) were the independent prognostic factors. Based on the histological types, the cumulative survival of patients with well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumor was significant higher than that of patients with poorly differentiated neuroendocrine carcinoma in group PHNENs (P = 0.022), but not in group PanNENs (P > 0.05). According to the different treatments, patients who received surgery had significantly higher cumulative survival than those with conservative treatment in both groups (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

PHNENs have lower survival compared to PanNENs. Histological types and treatments affect the prognosis. Surgical resection still remains the first line of treatment for resectable lesions and can significantly improve the survival.

Retrospective analysis of interventional treatment of hepatic metastasis from gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors

OBJECTIVE

To analyze the angiography appearance of liver metastases from gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs), and evaluate the clinical efficacy and prognostic factors of interventional treatment for hepatic metastases.

METHODS

Fifty GEP-NETs patients with hepatic metastases were treated from January 2012 to December 2016, and received transarterial embolization (TAE) in the hepatic tumor or hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (HAIC). All patients received 179 times of the intervention therapy in total.

RESULTS

Blood supplies were identified in the 50 cases with angiography, which showed that 35 cases had abundant vessels, while 15 cases had poor blood supply. Twenty-two cases were found either collateral blood supply, or portal vein invasion or arterial-portal vein fistula. The best curative efficacy was complete remission (CR) in 4 cases, partial remission (PR) in 28 cases and stable disease (SD) in 18 cases during the process of treatment. The angiography (P=0.047) and the frequency of intervention (P=0.037) showed significantly statistical difference with Kaplan-Meier analysis. The Cox analysis showed that more than 3 times of interventional therapy was an independent prognostic factor.

CONCLUSIONS

Interventional treatment is safe and effective for GEP-NETs, and is beneficial to patients with main hepatic metastases after endocrine therapy.