Retrospective analysis of seven cases of pancreatic mixed adenoneuroendocrine carcinoma from a high-volume center and review of the literature

BACKGROUNDS: The clinicopathologic features and biological behaviors of pancreatic mixed adenoneuroendocrine carcinoma (pMANEC) and its impacts on survival are poorly known. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed seven pMANEC cases from a single institution from September 2010 to January 2017 along with twenty-one previously reported cases from the literature. Survival and prognostic analyses were conducted using Kaplan-Meier estimates and Cox regression, respectively. RESULTS: Seven pMANEC cases were identified during the study interval. Among the six patients who underwent operations, five reached R0 resections, one experienced postoperative pancreatic fistula, and two suffered other complications. The median progression-free survival (PFS) and disease-specific survival (DSS) were 7.5 months (2 to 36 months) and 15 months (6 to 36 months), respectively. A total analysis of twenty-eight pMANEC cases showed that patients were mostly older (median age, 59.5 years) and male (64.3%). The two most common symptoms were abdominal pain (53.6%) and obstructive jaundice (35.7%). The majority of pMANECs were non-functional (89.3%) and located in the pancreatic head (64.3%). The median diameter of pMANEC was 3.0 cm, with a wide range (0.5 to 19.0 cm). Lymph node metastasis (P = 0.015) was associated with decreased DSS, while age (P = 0.414), sex (P = 0.125), tumor size (P = 0.392), location (P = 0.913), functional status (P = 0.313), CA19–9 level (P = 0.608), and liver metastasis (P = 0.935) did not show significant prognoses on DSS. CONCLUSIONS: We reported seven pMANEC cases and outlined their clinical behaviors and prognoses with a review of twenty-one cases from the literature. Lymph node metastasis was found to be a negative prognostic factor of DSS based on the present study.