TY  - JOUR
A1  - Koch, Charlotte
A1  - Koca, Esra
A1  - Filmann, Sonja Natalie
A1  - Husmann, Gabriele
A1  - Bojunga, Jörg
T1  - Time from first tumor manifestation to diagnosis in patients with GEP-NET : results from a large German tertiary referral center
T2  - Medicine
N2  - Patients with neuroendocrine tumors (NET) often go through a long phase between onset of symptoms and initial diagnosis. Assessment of time to diagnosis and pre-clinical pathway in patients with gastroenteropancreatic NET (GEP-NET) with regard to metastases and symptoms. Retrospective analysis of patients with GEP-NET at a tertiary referral center from 1984 to 2019; inclusion criteria: Patients ≥18 years, diagnosis of GEP-NET; statistical analysis using non-parametrical methods. Four hundred eighty-six patients with 488 tumors were identified; median age at first diagnosis (478/486, 8 unknown) was 59 years; 52.9% male patients. Pancreatic NET: 143/488 tumors; 29.3%; small intestinal NET: 145/488 tumors, 29.7%. 128/303 patients (42.2%) showed NET specific and 122/486 (25%) patients other tumor-specific symptoms. 222/279 patients had distant metastases at initial diagnosis (187/222 liver metastases). 154/488 (31.6%) of GEP-NET were incidental findings. Median time from tumor manifestation (e.g., symptoms related to NET) to initial diagnosis across all entities was 19.5 (95% CI: 12–28) days. No significant difference in patients with or without distant metastases (median 73 vs 105 days, P = .42). A large proportion of GEP-NET are incidental findings and only about half of all patients are symptomatic at the time of diagnosis. We did not find a significant influence of the presence of metastases on time to diagnosis, which shows a large variability with a median of <30 days.
KW  - delay
KW  - diagnosis
KW  - metastases
KW  - neuroendocrine
Y1  - 2021
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/64543
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-645437
SN  - 1536-5964
N1  - This study was funded by Ipsen. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis or interpretation of results. Ipsen reviewed this manuscript for scientific accuracy but had no prior input into the content.
VL  - 100
IS  - 37, art. e27276
SP  - 1
EP  - 9
PB  - Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
CY  - Baltimore, Md.
ER  -