Nomograms for Predicting Survival Outcomes in Patients with Neuroendocrine Neoplasms of the Gallbladder Undergoing Primary Tumor Resection: A Population-Based Study

Abstract

Background: Neuroendocrine neoplasms of the gallbladder (GB-NENs) are a rare group of histologically heterogeneous tumors, and surgical resection of the primary tumor is the mainstream treatment at the moment. The current study aimed to establish and validate novel nomograms for patients with GB-NENs undergoing primary tumor resection to predict the 6-, 12-, and 18-month overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS). Methods: Clinicopathological information of patients with GB-NENs undergoing primary tumor resection between 2004 and 2018 was derived from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. Candidate prognostic factors were selected by Cox regression analyses, and the nomograms were constructed. Finally, concordance index (C-index), calibration plot, area under the curve from the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), and decision curve analysis (DCA) were utilized to assess the effective performance of the nomograms. Results: A total of 221 patients with GB-NENs undergoing resection were enrolled in this retrospective study. Using the Cox regression analyses, age, pathological classification, tumor size, and SEER stage were identified as the independent prognostic factors of patients with GB-NENs undergoing resection, and nomograms were constructed. The C-indexes of OS and CSS in training dataset were 0.802 (95% CI: 0.757–0.848) and 0.846 (95% CI: 0.798–0.895), while those of internal validation dataset were 0.862 (95% CI: 0.802–0.922) and 0.879 (95% CI: 0.824–0.934), respectively. Conclusions: Taken together, the nomograms are accurate enough to predict the prognostic factors of GB-NEN patients undergoing resection, allowing for treatment decision-making and clinical monitoring for future clinical work.