Incidence of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumours: a systematic review of the literature

Abstract

Based on the current medical literature, the worldwide incidence of neuroendocrine tumours (NETs) seems to have increased; however, a systematic literature overview is lacking. This study aimed to collect all available data on the incidence of gastroenteropancreatic (GEP)-NETs and characteristics of population to establish their epidemiology. A sensitive MEDLINE search was carried out. The papers were selected via a cascade process that restricted the initial pool of 7991 articles to 33, using predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Original articles evaluating the incidence of sporadic GEP-NETs in regional, institutional and national registries were considered. The majority of data originated from the US National Cancer Institute Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results database and from national cancer registries in Western Europe. Generally, because of the retrospective nature of existing databases the outcomes of studies might be biased, which hinders the drawing of firm conclusions. The age-adjusted incidence of GEP-NETs has increased steadily over the past four decades , increasing 3.65-fold in the USA and 3.8-to 4.8-fold in the UK. Incidence has changed variably from one anatomical site to another. The greatest increase in incidence occurred for gastric and rectal NETs, while the smallest increase occurred for small intestine NETs. There were gender and racial differences, which differed site by site and, in some cases, changed over time. The incidence rates (IRs) of GEP-NETs have increased significantly in the last 40 years. Data are only available from North America, Western Europe and Japan. A siteby-site analysis revealed that the IRs of some NETs increased more than those of others.

Prognostic Value of 18F-FLT PET in Patients with Neuroendocrine Neoplasms: A Prospective Head-to-Head Comparison with 18F-FDG PET and Ki-67 in 100 Patients

“…Neur oendocrine neoplasms (NENs) include a diversity of tumors derived from various organ systems, in particular the intestinal tract, pancreas, and lungs (1)(2)(3). Thus, the clinical course and prognosis of the disease can vary substantially.…”

Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors

“…Most of the pNENs were sporadic in adults between the sixth and eighth decades, sometimes it was associated with hereditary diseases, such as multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN) 1, Von Hippel Lindau (VHL) and Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF-1). PNETs represent a heterogeneous group of neoplasms in tumor behavior and a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations (1,(4)(5)(6). pNENs are classified as two general categories, functional and nonfunctional, based on whether the patients present a clinical syndrome caused by the hypersecreted hormones.…”

Nowotwory neuroendokrynne jelita cienkiego i wyrostka robaczkowego — zasady postępowania (rekomendowane przez Polską Sieć Guzów Neuroendokrynnych)

“…Although the increase in the diagnosis of gastric and rectal NENs can be partially explained by the development of endoscopic techniques, such an explanation does not apply to the higher incidence of small intestinal NENs [2,3,5,17,18]. According to experts from the Polish Network of Neuroendocrine Tumours, endoscopic tests of the large intestine, including screening colonoscopy (over about a 20 year period) increased the detection of small intestinal NENs.…”