Histopathological Landscape of Precursor Lesions of Gastro-Entero-Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Neoplasms

Abstract

Background. Despite the important advances in research on neuroendocrine neoplasms of the gastro-entero-pancreatic tract (GEP-NENs), their precursor lesions are much less well known. Summary. This review analyzes the pre-neoplastic neuroendocrine lesions of the gastroentro-pancreatic tract, by adopting a coherent anatomical benchmark. In particular, the settings in which neuroendocrine precursor lesions represent well recognized pathophysiological and morphological entities (with eventual molecular correlates) have been distinguished from the ones in which the nature of preneoplastic changes is still obscure. Key Messages. The aim of the paper is to summarize what is known about precursor lesions of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors, with the goal of providing a useful tool for future research aimed at obtaining a fuller understanding of the underlying biology and early development of these diseases.