Systematic Reviews
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Aug 16, 2022; 10(23): 8212-8223
Published online Aug 16, 2022. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i23.8212
Gallbladder neuroendocrine carcinoma diagnosis, treatment and prognosis based on the SEER database: A literature review
Xing-Chen Cai, Sheng-Dong Wu
Xing-Chen Cai, Sheng-Dong Wu, Department of Hepato-Pancreato-Billiary Surgery, The affiliated Lihuili Hospital, Ningbo University, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China
Author contributions: Wu SD contributed to the article framework guidance and revision; and Cai XC contributed to the data acquisition, statistical analysis and article writing.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Sheng-Dong Wu, Doctor, Department of Hepato-Pancreato-Billiary Surgery, The affiliated Lihuili Hospital, Ningbo University, No. 818 Fenghua Road, Ningbo 315300, Zhejiang Province, China. b407167953@163.com
Received: January 18, 2022
Peer-review started: January 18, 2022
First decision: April 11, 2022
Revised: April 21, 2022
Accepted: July 11, 2022
Article in press: July 11, 2022
Published online: August 16, 2022
Processing time: 195 Days and 5.6 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Gallbladder neuroendocrine carcinoma (GB-NEC) has a low incidence rate; therefore, its clinical characteristics, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis are not well explored.

AIM

To review recent research and analyze corresponding data in the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database.

METHODS

Data of GB-NEC (n = 287) and gallbladder adenocarcinoma (GB-ADC) (n = 19 484) patients from 1975 to 2016 were extracted from the SEER database. Survival analysis was performed using Kaplan–Meier and Cox proportional hazards regression. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. We also reviewed 108 studies retrieved from PubMed and Reference Citation Analysis (https://www.referencecitationanalysis.com/). The keywords used for the search were: "(Carcinoma, Neuroendocrine) AND (Gallbladder Neoplasms)".

RESULTS

The GB-NEC incidence rate was 1.6% (of all gallbladder carcinomas), male to female ratio was 1:2 and the median survival time was 7 mo. The 1-, 2-, 3- and 5-year overall survival (OS) was 36.6%, 17.8%, 13.2% and 7.3% respectively. Serum chromogranin A levels may be a specific tumor marker for the diagnosis of GB-NEC. Elevated carcinoembryonic antigen, carbohydrate antigen (CA)-19-9 and CA-125 levels were associated with poor prognosis. Age [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.027, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.006–1.047, P = 0.01] and liver metastasis (HR = 3.055, 95% CI: 1.839–5.075, P < 0.001) are independent prognostic risk factors for OS. Patients with advanced GB-NEC treated with surgical resection combined with radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy may have a better prognosis than those treated with surgical resection alone. There was no significant difference in OS between GB-NEC and GB-ADC.

CONCLUSION

The clinical manifestations and prognosis of GB-NEC are similar to GB-ADC, but the treatment is completely different. Early diagnosis and treatment are the top priorities.

Keywords: Clinical features; Diagnosis; Gallbladder neuroendocrine tumor; Pathology; Treatment

Core tip: A literature review based on the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results database was conducted to find the clinical manifestations, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of gallbladder neuroendocrine carcinoma. We tried to clarify the direction of further research on this tumor.