Renal Neuroendocrine Neoplasms: A Single-center Experience

Primary neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs) of the kidney are exceedingly rare malignancies and the available literature is very limited. The natural history and response to treatments is not well characterized. We aimed to describe the presenting features, demographics, tumor characteristics, and treatment outcomes of patients with renal NENs.

We performed a retrospective analysis of all Mayo Clinic patient records with a tissue diagnosis of a primary renal NEN. Baseline patient and surgical pathologic features and treatment modalities were collected. Time to recurrence after resection and overall survival (OS) were estimated using with survival analysis. Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results data were used to estimate the population-wide incidence and OS.

A total of 17 patients were included in the present study, with a median follow-up of 62.8 months. Distant metastasis was present in 29% at diagnosis, with 76% experiencing distant metastasis at any point; 24% had a horseshoe kidney. Of the 17 patients, 14 had undergone surgical resection with no evidence of disease postoperatively. Ten of these patients had documented recurrence. The median time to recurrence was 18 months (95% confidence interval, 9-46 months). Only 1 of the 10 patients showed a radiographic response to systemic therapy. Of 9 patients, 4 had stable disease with somatostatin analogs. The median OS was 143 months (95% confidence interval, 50-143 months).

Renal NENs are rare malignancies affecting mostly middle-age patients, with distant metastasis being common. Approximately one half of patients experience stable disease with somatostatin analogs. The OS usually exceeds 5 years.