Abstract B116: Real world treatment patterns and treatment outcomes of neuroendocrine tumors: A single institution study
Authors: Gutta Radhika N. , Su Wang-Ting , She Ruicong , Khan Gazala 
Published: December 2023

Introduction:   Neuroendocrine tumors (NET) arising from the gastrointestinal tract are rare heterogenous neoplasms that differ in several characteristics including biological behavior, degree of differentiation as well as prognosis. Given the rarity of the condition, much appears to be learned about clinical characteristics and response to therapy for patients with GI neuroendocrine tumors. African American patients are typically associated with poorer outcomes or survival in a variety of tumors but not as well described in neuroendocrine tumors. Our study aimed to study if racial disparities exist in outcomes for patients with NET’s.   Methods:   Patients who had a diagnosis of neuroendocrine tumor of any grade, and primary location between 2014 to 2022 were identified from Henry Ford Health (HFH) Cancer Registry. The patients’ demographic (age at diagnosis, sex, and self-reported race and ethnicity) were collected from the HFH Electronic Health Records databases in this retrospective data analysis. Race was determined and stratified as non-Hispanic Caucasian (CA), African American (AA), others, and unknown. Log-rank test was conducted to compare the survival curves between CA and AA groups. Cox proportional hazards model was applied with adjustments for age and sex (if applicable) while comparing racial disparities in overall survival. The CA vs. AA hazard ratio (HR) and p-values were calculated.   Results:   Of the 736 patients, 56.4% (415) were CA, 32.6% (240) were AA, 6.5% (48) were others with the rest 4.5% (33) being unknown. 57.6% of the patients were over the age of 60 and the distribution of males and females were about equivalent at 49.6% and 50.4% respectively. The mean Charlson co-morbidity index was 2.47 in CA, and 2.08 in AA (p=0.095). The average survival in months from time of diagnosis was 76.93 months in CA and 84.6 months in AA (p=0.05). There was no statistical significance when adjusted for age and sex (HR = 1.18, p=0.33). Black females had an average survival of 85.76 months compared to 83 months in white females (p=0.6). Black males did better with an average survival of 82 months to compared to white males at 70.48 months (p=0.04). When age was adjusted, there was no statistical significance between CA and AA (HR = 1.38, p = 0.18). Both white males and females had more patients diagnosed as metastatic at one year prior to diagnosis n= 28 and n=20 respectively compared to black males (n=10) and females (n=9). However, black females with metastatic disease did worse than white females with average survival of 15.22  months compared to 24.24 months (p=0.8).   Conclusion:   In our retrospective analysis, white patients seemed to have a worse prognosis in terms of overall survival (OS) compared to black patients. However, when adjusted for age and sex, it did not appear to be statistically significant. Black females did have an overall survival worse than white females. Larger studies across multiple institutions may help us understand if racial disparities do exist and develop methods to help eliminate them.  

Citation Format: Radhika N. Gutta, Wang-Ting Su, Ruicong She, Gazala Khan. Real world treatment patterns and treatment outcomes of neuroendocrine tumors: A single institution study [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 16th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2023 Sep 29-Oct 2;Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2023;32(12 Suppl):Abstract nr B116.