Natural history of gastro-entero-pancreatic and thoracic neuroendocrine tumors. Data from a large prospective and retrospective Italian Epidemiological study: THE NET MANAGEMENT STUDY

Background: The few epidemiological data available in literature on neuroendocrine tumors (NET) are mainly based on Registry databases, missing therefore details on their clinical and natural history. Aim: To investigate epidemiology, clinical presentation, and natural history of NET. Design and set...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of endocrinological investigation Vol. 35; no. 9; pp. 817 - 823
Main Authors: Faggiano, A., Ferolla, P., Grimaldi, F., Campana, D., Manzoni, M., Davì, M. V., Bianchi, A., Valcavi, R., Papini, E., Giuffrida, D., Ferone, D., Fanciulli, G., Arnaldi, G., Franchi, G. M., Francia, G., Fasola, G., Crinò, L., Pontecorvi, A., Tomassetti, P., Colao, A.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01-10-2012
Subjects:
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Background: The few epidemiological data available in literature on neuroendocrine tumors (NET) are mainly based on Registry databases, missing therefore details on their clinical and natural history. Aim: To investigate epidemiology, clinical presentation, and natural history of NET. Design and setting: A large national retrospective survey was conducted in 13 Italian referral centers. Among 1203 NET, 820 originating in the thorax (T-NET), in the gastro-entero-pancreatic tract (GEP-NET) or metastatic NET of unknown primary origin (U-NET) were enrolled in the study. Results: 93% had a sporadic and 7% a multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1)-associated tumor; 63% were GEP-NET, 33% T-NET, 4% U-NET. Pancreas and lung were the commonest primary sites. Poorly differentiated carcinomas were <10%, all sporadic. The incidence of NET had a linear increase from 1990 to 2007 in all the centers. The mean age at diagnosis was 60.0±16.4 yr, significantly anticipated in MEN1 patients (47.7±16.5 yr). Association with cigarette smoking and other non-NET cancer were more prevalent than in the general Italian population. The first symptoms of the disease were related to tumor burden in 46%, endocrine syndrome in 23%, while the diagnosis was fortuity in 29%. Insulin (37%) and serotonin (35%) were the most common hormonal hyper-secretions. An advanced tumor stage was found in 42%, more frequently in the gut and thymus. No differences in the overall survival was observed between T-NET and GEP-NET and between sporadic and MEN1 -associated tumors at 10 yr from diagnosis, while survival probability was dramatically reduced in U-NET. Conclusions: The data obtained from this study furnish relevant information on epidemiology, natural history, and clinico-pathological features of NET, not available from the few published Register studies.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:0391-4097
1720-8386
DOI:10.3275/8102