Pathological features and prognosis of rectal neuroendocrine tumors coexisted with colorectal polyps: An analysis of 65 cases

Objective To explore the clinicopathological features, treatment and prognosis of patients with rectal neuroendocrine tumors coexisted with colorectal polyps. Methods Medical records of patients with rectal neuroendocrine tumors who were diagnosed and treated in our department from January 2012 to January 2015 were collected. All patients were divided into two groups by coexisting with colorectal polyps or not. The clinicopathological features, treatment and prognosis were comparatively analyzed. Results A total of 65 patients were enrolled with the mean age of (50.09±11.12) years (ranging from 29-77 years) and male/female ratio of 1.7∶1. The colorectal polyps were coexisted in 23 patients (35.4%), and the other 42 cases (64.6%) were found no colorectal polyps. Significant difference was found in mean age, gender ratio and symptom prevalence between two groups (55.83±11.12) years vs (46.95±9.91) years, 87.0% vs 50.0%, 82.6% vs 57.1%, P< 0.05. But the type, size, location, pathological grade of the tumors showed no difference between two groups. Twenty-six patients (40.0%) had undergone endoscopic ultrasonography, and the depth of invasion of the tumors was correctly identified in 25 cases (95%). All patients had undergone endoscopic resection procedure, and postoperative bleeding occurred in 1 patient. Additional surgeries were performed in 2 patients. Recurrence or metastasis was not found during the follow-up. Conclusion Patients in rectal neuroendocrine tumors coexisted with colorectal polyps group are significantly older than those in group without colorectal polyps, and the male/female ratio and symptom prevalence are also higher. Endoscopic therapy of the tumor can achieve excellent effect regardless of whether coexisting with colorectal polyps, and endoscopic ultrasonography can accurately assess the depth of invasion of the tumors, which is particularly important to the preoperative evaluation.