Impact of the initial site of metastases on post-recurrence survival for neuroendocrine cervical cancer

OBJECTIVE: To summarize the risk factors and emphasize the prognostic importance of the site of recurrent neuroendocrine cervical cancer (NECC). METHODS: We enrolled 88 patients who developed recurrence after radical surgery for pathological stage I–IVa primary NECC between January 2003 and 30 December 2020 and classified these cases into 7 groups based on the initial recurrence. The risk factors for post-recurrence survival (PRS) were analyzed by Kaplan–Meier and Cox regression methods. RESULTS: Among 88 NECC patients, nearly all patients (95.50%) experienced progression within 3 years. The time to progression was significantly longer in patients with lung recurrence than in patients without lung recurrence (p = 0.008). After the first recurrence, the median follow-up was 11.1 months (range 2.37–65.50 months), and the 5-year PRS was only 20.6%. The depth of invasion in the primary surgery, number of recurrent sites, abdominal organ recurrence were correlated with PRS by univariate analysis. Multivariate analyses revealed that the number of recurrent sites (p = 0.025) and abdominal organ recurrence (p = 0.031) were independent prognostic factors. Notably, the combination of immune checkpoint inhibitors and chemotherapy, with or without surgery, showed a 43.8% objective response rate in recurrent NECC. CONCLUSION: Patients with abdominal organ recurrence need more sophisticated therapy. The combination of immune therapy and chemotherapy might be an opportunity for recurrent NECC. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12885-022-09737-4.