Histopathological features of gastrointestinal and pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms: An 11-year retrospective study from a tertiary center in Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate the clinicopathological features of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (GEP-NENs) over 11 years at a single tertiary institution in Saudi Arabia.

Methods: In a retrospective review, data from 71 patients diagnosed with GEP-NEN, at a tertiary academic center in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, between January 2014 to December 2024, were analyzed for demographics, clinical presentation, tumor location, size, pathology, grade, and immunohistochemistry. The statistical analyses included Chi-square, Mann-Whitney-U, and Spearman's correlation tests.

Results: The cohort had a mean age of 54.9±15.1 years and comprised 62% males. Most tumors originated in the foregut (62.0%) and were unifocal (83.1%). Abdominal pain (29.6%) and weight loss (9.9%) were the most common symptoms, and 18.2% of cases were incidentally detected. Well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumors represented 77.5% of the cases, with grade 1 being the most prevalent (60.0%). Synaptophysin was detected in 100% of patients and chromogranin A was detected in 90.1% of patients. The tumor size was significantly positively correlated with the tumor grade (r=0.57, p=0.001), whereas tumor grade was not significantly associated with gender or other clinicopathological features.

Conclusion: Well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumors originating in the foregut were predominant in this cohort. These findings provide important regional insights into GEP-NENs and support the need for further research to enhance the diagnostic and treatment strategies.