Critical appraisal of the adequacy of surgical indications for non-functioning pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours

Abstract Background The lack of preoperative prognostic factors to accurately predict tumour aggressiveness in non-functioning pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours may result in inappropriate management decisions. This study aimed to critically evaluate the adequacy of surgical treatment in patients with resectable non-functioning pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours and investigate preoperative features of surgical appropriateness. Methods A retrospective study was conducted on patients who underwent curative surgery for non-functioning pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours at San Raffaele Hospital (2002–2022). The appropriateness of surgical treatment was categorized as appropriate, potential overtreatment and potential undertreatment based on histologic features of aggressiveness and disease relapse within 1 year from surgery (early relapse). Results A total of 384 patients were included. Among them, 230 (60%) received appropriate surgical treatment, whereas the remaining 154 (40%) underwent potentially inadequate treatment: 129 (34%) experienced potential overtreatment and 25 (6%) received potential undertreatment. The appropriateness of surgical treatment was significantly associated with radiological tumour size (P 0.001), tumour site (P = 0.012), surgical technique (P 0.001) and year of surgical resection (P 0.001). Surgery performed before 2015 (OR 2.580, 95% c.i. 1.570 to 4.242; P 0.001), radiological tumour diameter 25.5 mm (OR 6.566, 95% c.i. 4.010 to 10.751; P 0.001) and pancreatic body/tail localization (OR 1.908, 95% c.i. 1.119 to 3.253; P = 0.018) were identified as independent predictors of potential overtreatment. Radiological tumour size was the only independent determinant of potential undertreatment (OR 0.291, 95% c.i. 0.107 to 0.791; P = 0.016). Patients subjected to potential undertreatment exhibited significantly poorer disease-free survival (P 0.001), overall survival (P 0.001) and disease-specific survival (P 0.001). Conclusions Potential overtreatment occurs in nearly one-third of patients undergoing surgery for non-functioning pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours. Tumour diameter emerges as the sole variable capable of predicting the risk of both potential surgical overtreatment and undertreatment.