Clinicopathological features and surgical outcomes of neuroendocrine tumors of ampulla of Vater

Background: The study aims to investigate the clinicopathological features and surgical outcomes of neuroendocrine tumors of ampulla of Vater (NETAoVs) patients who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy. Methods: From January 2007 to December 2014, 45 patients underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy for malignant disease of the ampulla of Vater in our institution. Of those, 5 patients were diagnosed as neuroendocrine tumors. The data included age, sex, presenting symptoms, preoperative imaging, preoperative type of biopsy results, type of operation, pathologic findings and survival status. Results: The patient's mean age was 55.2 +/- 9.7 years. Endoscopic ultrasound guided biopsy was performed in 4 patients and gastroduodenoscopic biopsy was performed in one patient. All showed neuroendocrine tumor without mitosis. Mean tumor size was 1.9 +/- 0.56 cm (range, 1.2-2.0 cm). Lymph node metastases were detected in two patients. All patients were synaptophysin-positive. Median periods of follow-up were 45 months (range, 43-78 months). Recurrence after operation occurred in two patients. 4 patients were alive at the last follow-up. Conclusions: Radical resection for NETAoVs can provide the information of status of lymph node metastasis after surgery. However, correlation between lymph node metastasis and overall survival is uncertain to date.