Clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of 77 cases with type 3 gastric neuroendocrine tumours.

Background: For the rarity of type 3 gastric neuroendocrine tumours (g-NETs), their clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis are not well illustrated.

Aim: To describe the clinicopathological features and outcome of type 3 g-NETs in the Chinese population.

Methods: Based on the 2019 WHO pathological classification, the clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of patients with type 3 g-NETs in China were retrospectively analysed.

Results: A total of 77 patients (55.8% of females) with type 3 g-NETs were analysed, with a median age of 48 years (range: 28-79 years). The tumours were mainly located in the gastric fundus/body (83.1%) and were mostly solitary (83.1%), with a median size of 1.5 cm (0.8-3.5 cm). Of these, there were 37 G1 tumours (48.1%), 31 G2 (40.3%), and 9 G3 (11.7%). Ten (13.0%) and 24 (31.2%) patients had lymph node and distant metastasis, respectively. In addition, type 3 g-NETs were heterogeneous. Compared with G1 NETs, G2 NETs had a higher lymph node metastasis rate, and G3 NETs had a higher distant metastasis rate. G1 and G2 NETs with stage I/II disease (33/68) received endoscopic treatment, and no tumour recurrence or tumour-related death was observed within a median follow-up time of 36 mo. Grade and distant metastasis were identified to be independent risk factors for prognosis in multivariable analysis.

Conclusion: Type 3 g-NETs are obviously heterogeneous, and the updated WHO 2019 pathological classification may be used to effectively evaluate their biological behaviors and prognosis. Also, endoscopic treatment should be considered for small (< 2 cm), low grade, superficial tumours.