Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 Jan 26:11:610230.
doi: 10.3389/fendo.2020.610230. eCollection 2020.

Primary Neuroendocrine Neoplasms of the Breast: Still Open Issues

Marco Gallo  1   2 , Severo Campione  3 , Valentina Di Vito  4 , Nicoletta Fortunati  1 , Fabio Lo Calzo  5 , Erika Messina  6 , Rosaria Maddalena Ruggeri  6 , Antongiulio Faggiano  4 , Annamaria Anita Livia Colao  5
Affiliations
Review

Primary Neuroendocrine Neoplasms of the Breast: Still Open Issues

Marco Gallo et al. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). .

Abstract

Neuroendocrine breast tumors represent a rare subtype of breast cancer, accounting for less than 1% of all neuroendocrine neoplasms. Starting from their pathology definition, and going through their prevalence, prognosis and treatment, our knowledge is still really uncertain. In the present short review of the medical literature on this topic, we have evaluated in details their epidemiology, risk factors, pathogenesis, pathology, clinical presentation, radiographic aspects, prognosis, and therapy. We have thus been able to identify a number of open issues regarding primary neuroendocrine neoplasms of the breast that need to be clarified. Our ultimate aim was actually to try to understand whether neuroendocrine neoplasms of the breast can be considered a definite clinical entity and if neuroendocrine differentiation of breast tumors has a really clinical relevance.

Keywords: breast cancer; breast carcinoma; breast neuroendocrine neoplasms; neuroendocrine; review.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Oronsky B, Ma PC, Morgensztern D, Carter CA. Nothing But NET: A Review of Neuroendocrine Tumors and Carcinomas. Neoplasia (2017) 19(12):991–1002. 10.1016/j.neo.2017.09.002 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Collado-Mesa F, Net JM, Klevos GA, Yepes MM. Primary neuroendocrine carcinoma of the breast: report of 2 cases and literature review. Radiol Case Rep (2017) 12(1):1–12. 10.1016/j.radcr.2016.12.001 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Tavassoli FA, Devilee P, International Agency for Research on C., World Health O., International Academy of P. Pathology and genetics of tumours of the breast and female genital organs [Online]. Lyon: IARC Press; (2003). Available at: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&d... (Accessed November 16, 2020).
    1. Sapino A, Papotti M, Righi L, Cassoni P, Chiusa L, Bussolati G. Clinical significance of neuroendocrine carcinoma of the breast. Ann Oncol (2001) 12 Suppl 2:S115–117. 10.1093/annonc/12.suppl_2.s115 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bussolati G, Badve S. Carcinomas with neuroendocrine features. In: Lakhani SR, Ellis IO, Schnitt SJ, Tan PH, van der Vijver MJ, editors. WHO Classification of Tumours of the Breast, vol. 4 . Lyon, France: IARC Press; (2012). p. 62–3. World Health Organization Classification of Tumours.