OBJECTIVETo evaluate the clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of poorly differentiated neuroendocrine carcinoma of the stomach.

METHODSTwenty-three poorly differentiated neuroendocrine carcinomas of the stomach were treated in the Department of Abdominal Surgery at the Cancer Hospital, Fudan University between January 1996 and December 2007. Clinicopathological characteristics and survival data were analyzed.

RESULTSPoorly differentiated neuroendocrine carcinomas of the stomach accounted for 0.52% of all the gastric carcinomas. The tumor occurred more often in males (18 of 23), older patients (mean age of 62 years), upper third of the stomach (16 of 24,one patient had more than one lesion) with large size (mean diameter of 6.8 cm). TNM stages were as follows: stage II in 3 patients, stage III in 12, and stage IIII in 8. Thirteen patients underwent curative resection, while 8 underwent palliative resection and 2 others underwent exploratory laparotomy with biopsy. Of the 21 surgical resection specimens, vascular invasion was found in 18 patients (85.7%), perineural invasion in 16 patients (76.2%), and regional lymph node metastasis in 17 patients (81.0%). Follow up time ranged from 3 to 63 months. Mean overall survival time was 17.7 months. The 1-year, 2-year, and 5-year survival rates were 47.8%, 19.1%, and 4.3%, respectively. Statistically significant differences in survival curves were observed which were related to tumor staging and surgery type, but not related to gender, age, tumor location, or diameter.

CONCLUSIONSPoorly differentiated neuroendocrine carcinomas of the stomach are rare and with poor prognosis. Tumor stage and surgical type have potential impact on survival.