Early diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal neuroendocrine tumors

The aim of the present retrospective analysis on the macroscopic appearance and pathological characteristics of gastrointestinal neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) was to investigate methods for their early diagnosis and treatment. A total of 78 patients were divided into submucosal NET and deeper invasion NET groups, according to the depth of tumor invasion exhibited by the patients. The clinicopathological characteristics and survival time of the NET patients were analyzed and compared. The pathological characteristics of the submucosal NETs group were investigated according to the diameter of the tumor (≤5.0 mm, 5.1-10.0 mm or >10.0 mm). The depth of invasion at diagnosis was observed to significantly correlate with histopathological classification, diameter of the tumor, macroscopic appearance, growth pattern, lymphatic-vascular involvement, lymph node (LN) metastasis and distant metastasis. In the submucosal NETs group, high-grade tumors with lymphatic or venule invasion and distant metastasis were associated with an increased risk of nodal metastases. In patients with minute tumors (≤5.0 mm), no lymphatic-vascular involvement, LN or distant metastasis was observed. By contrast, patients with tumors measuring 5.1-10.0 mm in diameter exhibited high lymphatic-vascular involvement and LN metastasis rates (46.2 and 30.8%, respectively). Survival time was significantly longer in patients with submucosal NETs compared with deeper invasion NETs and in patients with NET G1 and NET G2 compared with NEC. The results of the present study indicate that gastrointestinal submucosal NETs are closely associated with a slightly elevated macroscopic type, low-grade tumors and a small diameter. These features may contribute to early diagnosis of gastrointestinal NETs. Therefore, a tumor diameter of <5.0 mm, with slightly elevated macroscopic appearance may indicate an absolute requirement for endoscopic resection, while tumors measuring 5.1-10.0 mm in diameter must be considered carefully.