Abstract:
Objective To investigate the clinicopathological characteristics and prognostic factors of cervical neuroendocrine carcinoma (NEC), and to clarify the independent prognostic value of the histological subtypes—mixed NEC (MiNEC) and pure NEC.
Methods A total of 45 cases of cervical NEC treated with radical surgery plus concurrent chemoradiotherapy at our institution between 2015 and 2024 were enrolled. Their clinicopathological features and prognosis were evaluated using immunohistochemistry, HPV RNAScope in situ hybridization, and survival analysis. After 1∶1 propensity score-matched calibration for FIGO staging, 17 balanced cohorts were obtained. The overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were compared between the MiNEC (n = 22) and pure-NEC (n = 23) cases using the Kaplan-Meier analysis and the Cox model.
Results The median patient age was 49 years (26-75 years) and the median follow-up was 24 months. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year OS rates were 75%, 61%, and 56%, respectively. According to the univariate analysis, FIGO stages Ⅲ and Ⅳ (hazards ratio HR = 3.78, 95% CI: 1.27-11.29, P = 0.017) and lymph node metastasis (HR = 3.72, 95% CI: 1.13-12.19, P = 0.030) were identified as adverse factors for OS. After propensity score matching, the difference in prognosis between MiNEC and pure-NEC was not statistically significant (HR = 0.80, 95% CI: 0.20-3.21, P = 0.583).
Conclusion Under a treatment regimen of radical surgery combined with concurrent platinum-etoposide chemoradiotherapy, the FIGO stage is an independent prognostic factor for OS in cervical NEC. Due to the limited sample size, the association between histologic subtypes (MiNEC vs. pure-NEC) and long-term survival requires further validation with larger samples.