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©The Author(s) 2026. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jan 21, 2026; 32(3): 113452
Published online Jan 21, 2026. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v32.i3.113452
Published online Jan 21, 2026. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v32.i3.113452
Is salvage treatment necessary after incomplete resection of rectal neuroendocrine tumors: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Jae Hyun Kim, Seun Ja Park, Department of Internal Medicine, Kosin University College of Medicine, Busan 49267, South Korea
Jung Won Lee, Department of Internal Medicine, Samsung Changwon Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Changwon 51353, Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea
Hyun Jung Kim, Cochrane Korea and Institute for Evidence-Based Medicine, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul 02841, South Korea
Seung Min Hong, Department of Internal Medicine, Pusan National University School of Medicine and Biomedical Research Institute, Pusan National University Hospital, Busan 49241, South Korea
Author contributions: Kim JH and Park SJ conceptualized and designed the study; Kim JH and Lee JW collected and analyzed the data; Kim HJ supervised the systematic review process and statistical methodology; Hong SM provided critical revisions and expert review; Kim JH drafted the manuscript; Park SJ critically revised the final version of the manuscript; all authors reviewed and approved the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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: Seun Ja Park, MD, Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Kosin University College of Medicine, Gamcheonro 262, Seogu, Busan 49267, South Korea.
Received: August 26, 2025
Revised: October 23, 2025
Accepted: December 5, 2025
Published online: January 21, 2026
Processing time: 143 Days and 21.4 Hours
Revised: October 23, 2025
Accepted: December 5, 2025
Published online: January 21, 2026
Processing time: 143 Days and 21.4 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: Incomplete resection of rectal neuroendocrine tumors raises concern for residual disease and recurrence, yet the optimal management remains debated. In this systematic review and meta-analysis of 34 studies, residual tumors were identified on salvage pathology in about 25% of cases, whereas recurrence was rare in both salvage and observation groups. Although crude data suggested fewer recurrences with salvage treatment, comparative meta-analysis showed no significant difference. These findings highlight salvage resection as a diagnostic and therapeutic option, but its routine use for re