Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Feb 26, 2024; 12(6): 1111-1119
Published online Feb 26, 2024. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v12.i6.1111
Clinical analysis of 12 cases of ovarian neuroendocrine carcinoma
Xiao-Yu Xing, Wei Zhang, Li-Ya Liu, Li-Ping Han
Xiao-Yu Xing, Wei Zhang, Li-Ya Liu, Li-Ping Han, Department of Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450000, Henan Province, China
Author contributions: Xing XY and Zhang W designed this study and wrote the manuscript; Liu LY participated in collection and analysis of data; Han LP reviewed and revised the manuscript; All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University Institutional Review Board (Approval No. 2023-KY-0892-002).
Informed consent statement: Consent was not needed as the study was retrospective without exposure to the patients’ data.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement—checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement—checklist of items.
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: Li-Ping Han, PhD, Doctor, Department of Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, No. 1 Jianshe Dong Road, Erqi District, Zhengzhou 450000, Henan Province, China. fcchanlp@zzu.edu.cn
Received: November 27, 2023
Peer-review started: November 27, 2023
First decision: December 19, 2023
Revised: December 28, 2023
Accepted: January 22, 2024
Article in press: January 22, 2024
Published online: February 26, 2024
Processing time: 85 Days and 0.3 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Primary ovarian neuroendocrine carcinoma (NEC) are rare and there are no established treatment guidelines for NEC of the ovaries due to limited knowledge about this rare entity.

Research motivation

Primary ovarian NEC are rare, and we want to know more about it.

Research objectives

We retrospectively analyzed the clinicopathological features, treatment and survival of 12 patients with ovarian NEC, and hope to enhance our clinical understanding of NEC of the ovary.

Research methods

The clinical data of 12 patients with ovarian NEC in our hospital were retrospectively analyzed.

Research results

Among more than 2000 patients with ovarian cancer during the same period, we identified 9 cases of small cell ovarian cancer and 3 cases of large cell NEC. Eleven patients underwent surgery, all of whom received adjuvant chemotherapy, and 1 patient with a BRCA2 mutation received PARP inhibitor maintenance therapy after chemotherapy. The median progression-free survival was 13 months, and the median overall survival was 19.5 months. Four patients were alive without tumor recurrence, 8 patients had tumor recurrence, and 3 of them died of tumor recurrence.Abdominal ultrasound showed that the masses were typically solid or cystic-solid with abundant blood supply within the lesion, occupying the pelvic cavity. The borders of the masses were clearly defined with irregular contours. The computed tomography (CT) scan typically revealed a soft tissue mass with varying density in the pelvic cavity. Contrast-enhanced CT demonstrated slight enhancement or uneven enhancement of the solid components. The neoplastic cells were positive for CD56 in all cases, chromogranin A in 5 out of 10 cases, and synaptophysin in 9 out of 11 cases. Additionally, cytokeratin (CK) was positive in 5 out of 6 cases, with CK7 being positive in 4 out of 6 cases, epithelial memberane antigen being positive in 6 out of 7 cases, and PAX-8 being positive in 4 out of 8 cases.

Research conclusions

NEC of the ovary is a rare condition that is more common in women of childbearing age and is associated with aggressive behavior and poor clinical outcomes. Surgical resection remains the mainstay of treatment, with some patients benefiting from adjuvant chemoradiation therapy.

Research perspectives

In my opinion, the future research direction may be pathogenesis and immunotherapy.