Cancer Res Treat.  2003 Jun;35(3):245-253.

Clinical Features of Pulmonary Large Cell Neuroendocrine Carcinoma

• Park MS
• Kim KD
• Chung JH
• Shin DH
• Chung KY
• Kim JH
• Lee CY
• Kim YS
• Kim HJ
• Kim SK
• Ahn CM
• Kim SK
• Chang J

Abstract

PURPOSE
This study was performed to investigate the clinical features of large cell neuroendocrine carcinomas (LCNEC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the histopathology and clinical information of 37 patients with LCNEC, diagnosed between June 1992 and May 2002 at the Severance Hospital, and performed immunohistochemical (IHC) staining. RESULTS: The prevalence of LCNEC among primary lung cancers was 0.3%, 37 out of 13, 012 cases over a 10 year period. The mean age was 61+/-12 years old, with 34 (92%) males and 3 (8%) females. 30 patients smoked, with an average of 42 packs per year. A cough was the most frequent symptom. The tumor was located at the periphery of the lung in 24 cases (65%). Among the 30 cases that underwent surgery, 4 were diagnosed pathological stage IA, 11 IB, 1 IIB, 13 IIIA and 1 IIIB. The 7 clinically non-operable cases were IIIB in 3, and IV in 4. The positive rates of CD56, thyroid transcription factor-1 (TTF-1), chromogranin A, synaptophysin and 34betaE12 for tumor cells were 88.9, 55.6, 42.1, 31.6 and 21.1%, respectively, from the IHC staining. The median survival time and 5 year-survival rate were 24 months and 27%, respectively. The group that underwent surgery had a better prognosis than those that did not. CONCLUSION: The positive rates for the tumor markers varied, but those of the CD56 and TFT-1 were the highest. The possibility of LCNEC needs to be evaluated for the following situations: small cell carcinomas located at the periphery and not responding chemotherapy, small cell carcinomas diagnosed by percutaneous needle aspiration, poorly differentiated non-mall cell carcinomas, with uncertain histologic type, and unclassified neuroendocrine tumor, etc.

Keyword

Lung neoplasm; Large cell; Carcinoma; Neuroendocrine tumor

MeSH Terms

Carcinoma, Neuroendocrine*
Carcinoma, Small Cell
Chromogranin A
Cough
Drug Therapy
Female
Humans
Lung
Lung Neoplasms
Male
Needles
Neuroendocrine Tumors
Prevalence
Prognosis
Retrospective Studies
Smoke
Synaptophysin
Thyroid Gland
Biomarkers, Tumor
Chromogranin A
Smoke
Synaptophysin