Surgery

The only potentially curative therapy for gastrointestinal neuroendocrine tumors, which may be possible in as many as 20% of patients, is resection of the primary tumor and local lymph nodes.[2-4] Endoscopic surgery may be suitable for some tumors depending on the location, number, size, and degree of malignancy.[4] Resection of nonhepatic tumor primaries is associated with increased median survival ranging from 69 to 139 months.[5,6] However, the extent of resection depends on the site of origin of a given tumor, the involvement of surrounding structures, and the extent of metastases.[1]