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LIVER TRANSPLANT FOR METASTATIC NEUROENDOCRINE TUMORS: A SINGLE-CENTER REPORT
Raquel Lima Sampaio1, Gustavo Rego Coelho1,2,3, Ana Rosa Pinto Quidute4
1Hospital Universitário Walter Cantídio, Digestive Surgical Unit - Fortaleza (CE), Brazil.
Background:
Neuroendocrine tumors are rare neoplasms of uncertain biological behavior. The liver is one of the most common sites of metastases, occurring in 50% of patients with metastatic disease.
Aims:
To analyze a clinical series in liver transplant of patients with neuroendocrine tumors metastases.
Methods:
A retrospective descriptive study, based on the review of medical records of patients undergoing liver transplants due to neuroendocrine tumor metastases in a single center in northeast Brazil, over a period of 20 years (January 2001 to December 2021).
Results:
During the analyzed period, 2,000 liver transplants were performed, of which 11 were indicated for liver metastases caused by neuroendocrine tumors. The mean age at diagnosis was 45.09±14.36 years (26-66 years) and 72.7% of cases were females. The most common primary tumor site was in the gastrointestinal tract in 64% of cases. Even after detailed investigation, three patients had no primary tumor site identified (27%). Overall survival after transplantation at one month was 90%, at one year was 70%, and five year, 45.4%. Disease-free survival rate was 72.7% at one year and 36.3% at five years.
Conclusions:
Liver transplantation is a treatment modality with good overall survival and disease-free survival results in selected patients with unresectable liver metastases from neuroendocrine tumors. However, a rigorous selection of patients is necessary to obtain better results and the ideal time for transplant indication is still a controversial topic in the literature.
