The impact of surgery and survival prediction in patients with gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors: a population-based cohort study

This study aimed at assessing the impact of surgical treatments in patients with gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs). METHODS: A propensity score-matched analysis based on data in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database was used to assess the efficacy of surgical treatment in patients with GEP-NETs. RESULTS: A total of 7515 patients diagnosed with GEP-NETs from 2004 to 2015 were evaluated from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database. There were 1483 patients in the surgery group and 6032 patients in the nonsurgery group. Compared with patients in the surgery group, patients in the nonsurgery group were inclined to receive chemotherapy (50.8 vs. 16.7%) and radiation (12.9 vs. 3.7%) as treatment options. Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed higher rates of overall survival (OS) outcomes for GEP-NETs patients who had been subjected to surgery (hazard ratio=0.483, 95% CI=0.439–0.533, P<0.001). Then, to reduce the impact of bias, a 1 : 1 propensity score-matched analysis was performed for the two groups of patients. A total of 1760 patients were assessed and each subgroup included 880 patients. In the matched population, the patients exhibited the ability to significantly benefit from surgery (hazard ratio=0.455, 95% CI=0.439–0.533, P<0.001). The OS outcomes for radiation or chemotherapy patients who had been treated with surgery were better than those of patients who had not been treated with surgery (P<0.001). In addition, it was found that the OS of patients was not significant after rectum and small intestine surgery, whereas there was a significant difference in OS after colon, pancreas, and stomach surgery on the patients. Patients who had been subjected to surgery in the rectum and small intestines exhibited better therapeutic benefits. CONCLUSION: Patients with GEP-NETs who are treated with surgery have better OS outcomes. Therefore, surgery is recommended for specified selected patients with metastatic GEP-NETs.