Incidence and survival of neuroendocrine tumours in the Netherlands according to histological grade: experience of two decades of cancer registry.

Purpose: Epidemiological studies on neuroendocrine tumours (NETs) generally show a major increase in incidence. To investigate this increase, epidemiological data from the Netherlands were evaluated according to histological grade.

Methods: All 47,800 patients with NET (diagnosed 1990-2010) from the population-based Netherlands Cancer Registry were stratified according to the latest World Health Organization (WHO) classification for the digestive system: well-differentiated NET grade 1 and 2 (G1NET and G2NET), and poorly differentiated (grade 3) neuroendocrine carcinoma, subdivided into large cell (G3-LCNEC) and small cell (G3-SCNEC).

Validation of the EORTC QLQ-GINET21 questionnaire for assessing quality of life of patients with gastrointestinal neuroendocrine tumours.

Background: Quality of life is an important end point in clinical trials, yet there are few quality of life questionnaires for neuroendocrine tumours.

Methods: This international multicentre validation study assesses the QLQ-GINET21 Quality of Life Questionnaire in 253 patients with gastrointestinal neuroendocrine tumours. All patients were requested to complete two quality of life questionnaires - the EORTC Core Quality of Life questionnaire (QLQ-C30) and the QLQ-GINET21 - at baseline, and at 3 and 6 months post-baseline; the psychometric properties of the questionnaire were then analysed.