Clinicopathologic characteristics and survival outcomes in neuroendocrine carcinoma of the ovary

Abstract

ObjectiveNeuroendocrine tumors are rare in the ovary. Definitive epidemiologic and prognostic information for neuroendocrine carcinoma of the ovary is lacking. This retrospective population-based study aimed to elucidate the demographic and clinicopathologic characteristics of neuroendocrine carcinoma of the ovary.MethodsPatients with neuroendocrine carcinoma of the ovary diagnosed between January 1994 and December 2014were identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database of the National Cancer Institute. Cancer-specific survival was calculated by Kaplan-Meier plots and comparisons were performed using the log-rank test. A Cox hazard regression analysis was performed to identify independent predictors of cancer-specific survival in patients with neuroendocrine carcinoma of the ovary.ResultsA total of 166 patients were included, and 21.1% were younger than 50 years old. The majority of patients (59.6%) presented with unilateral tumors. Patients with neuroendocrine carcinoma of the ovary had significantly worse survival compared with most subtypes of epithelial ovarian cancer (including serous, endometrioid, mucinous, and clear cell), and similar to ovarian carcinosarcoma. The rate of cancer-specific survival was significantly different under the SEER histologic stages. Patients with low-grade neuroendocrine carcinoma of the ovary had longer average survival times than those with high-grade neuroendocrine carcinoma of the ovary (HR 3.43, 95% CI 1.56 to 7.54, p=0.002). Patients with neuroendocrine carcinoma of the ovary who underwent surgery had significantly better survival than those who did not undergo surgery (HR 2.23; 95% CI 1.45 to 3.43, p=<0.05).ConclusionsEarly clinical stage and low tumor grade independently predict better survival in patients with neuroendocrine carcinoma of the ovary. Surgery may be a useful therapy for neuroendocrine carcinoma of the ovary.

Systematic retrospective analysis of 10 cases of neuroendocrine tumors of the ovary: diagnosis, treatment and follow-up

“…The patients were mainly in productive ages with the mean age being 38.4 years. Previous studies have reported that ovarian neuroendocrine carcinoma could also occur after menopause [6,7]. Abdominal pain and a pelvic mass are the most common symptoms, which concurs with the ndings of previous studies, suggesting these tumors lacked speci c clinical manifestations.…”

“…The purpose of surgical resection is to obtain negative margins. A recent study indicated surgery signi cantly improved survival rates and complete surgical resection should be recommended as the primary modality [7]. In previous stage III/IV cases, most patients rstly underwent open surgery for diagnosis and treatment, and sometimes it was di cult to perform satisfactory primary debulking surgery (PDS), resulting in deterioration of patients′ general condition and worse prognosis [6,9,12].…”

Ovarian Neuroendocrine Tumors: a Single-institution Experience

“…Surgical resection aims to obtain negative margins. A recent study indicated that surgeries could signi cantly improve survival rates, and complete surgical resection should be recommended as the primary modality [7]. In this study, one case accepted the diagnostic laparoscopy, which suggested that complete primary debulking surgery (PDS) could not be performed.…”

Uncommon ovarian epithelial tumours

“…Neuroendocrine carcinomas have a poorer prognosis than most other epithelial ovarian carcinomas, with outcome similar to ovarian carcinosarcoma. 49…”