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Review
. 2023 Sep 23;13(10):1428.
doi: 10.3390/jpm13101428.

Long-Term Outcomes of Liver Transplantation for the Management of Neuroendocrine Neoplasms: A Systematic Review

Varun Palaniappan  1 , Chun Hei Li  2 , Andrea Frilling  3 , Ashley Kieran Clift  3   4
Affiliations
Review

Long-Term Outcomes of Liver Transplantation for the Management of Neuroendocrine Neoplasms: A Systematic Review

Varun Palaniappan et al. J Pers Med. .

Abstract

Liver transplantation is an uncommonly used, controversially debated therapeutic approach for highly selected individuals with neuroendocrine liver metastases. Synthesising evidence regarding outcomes from this approach is crucial to understand its position within the broad neuroendocrine liver metastases armamentarium. In this narrative systematic review of studies published in PubMed, Scopus and OVID until 1 July 2021, we summarise and critically appraise the existing literature regarding this modality, with a special focus on long-term outcomes data where possible. Fourteen studies were identified that reported outcomes from the use of liver transplantation for metastatic neuroendocrine neoplasms. No randomised trials were identified. Generally, indications and selection criteria were poorly articulated, with the notable exception of studies using the Milan criteria. The median 5-year overall survival was 65% (ranging from 36% to 97.2%, 11 studies), and the median 10-year overall survival was 50% (ranging from 46.1% to 88.8%, 3 studies). One additional study focussed on treatments and outcomes following post-transplant recurrence. No studies reported outcomes past 10 years. Further follow-up of the largest series with explicit selection criteria will deepen our understanding of the role that transplantation has to play in this setting.

Keywords: liver metastases; neuroendocrine; outcomes; systematic review; transplantation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PRISMA flowchart describing the steps in the systematic review from literature search to included studies. * = distinct record databases.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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