New trends in diagnosis and management of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrinal tumors (GEP-NETs)

Abstract

Gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs) represent a heterogenous family of tumors with a wide and complex spectrum of clinical behaviour and although rare they occur with a growing incidence from 1.1/100,000 per year in 1973 reaching about 5.3/100,000 per year in 2004.

Neuroendocrine cells are scattered as individual cells throughout the gastrointestinal mucosa, comprising approximately 1% of the cells lining the intestinal lumen. Thus, unlike many endocrine glands, gastrointestinal endocrine cells differentiate in tissues where the overwhelming majority of surrounding cells are nonendocrine