Diagnosis and therapy of well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumours of thelung

Introduction: Neuroendocrine tumours of the lung are uncommon malignant neo plasms. They represent a heterogeneous spectrum of disease, encompassing th e well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumours through to small-cell lung can cer, which has a poor prognosis and only palliative therapeutic options for most patients. Due to the low incidence of well-differentiated lung tumour s there is as yet little experience. Methods: Clinical records of 14 patien ts with well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumours of the lung were assesse d retrospectively for patients' initial symptomatology, diagnostic procedur es, therapy and results. Results. Eight lobectomies, 2 bronchoplastic lobec tomies, 2 segmental resections, 1 bilobectomy and 1 wedge resection were pe rfomed; seven of them without regional lymphadenectomy. All patients were a live after a mean follow-up of 38 (2-96) months. Thirteen of 14 patients we re free of complaints, twelve had no recurrences and returned to work. Conc lusions: Well-differentiated NET of the lung have an excellent prognosis af ter curative resection. Limited resections even without lymphadenectomy can be performed in some cases.