Gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms: Clinical-pathologic analysis of 48 cases treated at the Hospital Ángeles del Pedregal in Mexico City between 2018 and 2024

Abstract

Introduction and aims

Neuroendocrine neoplasms are rare tumors accounting for approximately 2% of all neoplasms, most of which (62–70%) originate in the gastrointestinal tract and pancreas. Our primary aim was to describe the clinical presentation and pathologic features of these tumors, to improve our knowledge and early identification of them.

Materials and methods

A retrospective, cross-sectional, observational, and descriptive study was conducted on patients with a confirmed diagnosis of neuroendocrine neoplasm treated at the Hospital Ángeles del Pedregal within the time frame of 2018 and 2024. All cases diagnosed with neuroendocrine neoplasm of the pancreas or gastrointestinal tract in surgical specimens from the pathology service were included. The clinical, laboratory, and imaging data were obtained from the patients’ hospital charts.

Results

Mean patient age was 55.2 years (range: 21–88 years). Of the 48 cases, 28 were men and 20 were women. The most frequent locations of the neuroendocrine neoplasms were the pancreas (25%), stomach (16.6%), rectum (12.5%), and appendix (10.4%). In 23/48 (47.9%) cases, the diagnosis of neuroendocrine neoplasm was incidental during surgery, endoscopy, or in imaging studies.

Conclusions

The great variety of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms was described. Given that these tumors rarely produce a typical secretory syndrome, a high level of clinical suspicion is needed. Circulating biomarkers may be useful for their early diagnosis.