Liver transplantation in patients with neuroendocrine tumors: a case series and literature review

Scientific paper - Original scientific paper

• Author: Diana Ilić
• Author: Nino Kunac
• Author: Tina Borčić
• Author: Petra Dinjar
• Author: Petra Kujundžić
• Author: Zrinka Mišetić
• Author: Zrinka Dolić
• Author: Nikola Sobočan
• Author: Miloš Lalovac
• Author: Maja Mijić
• Author: Goran Međimurec
• Author: Branislav Kocman
• Author: Ivana Mikolašević
• Author: Tajana Filipec Kanižaj
• Author's institution: University of Zagreb; School of Medicine; (Department of Internal Medicine)
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: BIOMEDICINE AND HEALTHCARE; Clinical Medical Sciences; Internal Medicine

Abstract (english)

Neuroendocrine tumors (NET) are a rare and heterogeneous group of neoplasms with variable biological behavior. They frequently metastasize to the liver, requiring active, multimodality treatment. Surgical resection, possible in only a minority of cases, was until recently the only potentially curative option. For unresectable NET with liver metastases, liver transplantation (LT) emerged as a potential curative treatment due to relatively slow growth and indolent behavior of the metastases. In this case series with literature review, we retrospectively analyzed the characteristics of 12 highly selected patients with metastatic NET disease as an indication for LT treated in our center. We also summarized the proposed prognostic factors, and evaluated and compared the existing selection criteria. The main poor prognostic factors in our patients were high grade NET and primary tumor in the pancreas. Inconsistent liver transplantation outcome parameters make it difficult to standardize patient selection criteria. There is a need for further studies that would fully elucidate the curative potential of LT in patients diagnosed with NET.

• Language: english
• Publication type: Scientific paper - Original scientific paper
• Publication status: Published
• Peer review: Peer review
• Publication version: Published version
• Journal title: Croatian Medical Journal
• Numbering: vol. 62, no. 1, pp. 44-51
• p-ISSN: 0353-9504
• e-ISSN: 1332-8166
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3325/cmj.2021.62.44
• URN:NBN: urn:nbn:hr:105:159801
• Publication: 2021-02-28
• Document URL: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7976884/
• Type of resource: Text
• Access conditions: Open access
• Created on: 2021-04-21 10:34:44