CASE REPORT article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Surgical Oncology
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1555736
primary giant hepatic neuroendocrine neoplasms in a young adult: case report and literature review
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Pathology, Cancer Hospital Shenzhen Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Shenzhen, China
- 2Department of Thoracic Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China, shenzhen, China
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Primary hepatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (PHNENs) are a rare type of neuroendocrine tumors originating in the liver. These tumors are characterized by non-specific clinical symptoms and atypical imaging features, making differentiation from other primary hepatic masses, such as hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and parasitic lesions, challenging. The diagnosis of PHNENs is based on characteristic histological features associated with this condition and results from immunohistochemistry assays. Here, we report on a case of a 22-year-old female presenting with a large hepatic neoplastic lesion. Computed tomography (CT) imaging results revealed a highly vascularized mass with clear boundaries located in the right lobe of the liver, suggesting a diagnosis of HCC. The patient underwent a fine-needle aspiration biopsy and subsequent complete surgical resection of the tumor.Results from both the fine-needle aspiration and histology of the surgically resected specimen showed that the tumor cells were arranged in a solid structure with a trabecular pattern. The tumor cells exhibited positive expressions for the epithelial cell markers AE1/AE3, along with the neuroendocrine markers, synaptophysin (Syn), chromogranin (CgA), and CD56 as based on results from immunohistochemical staining. The Ki-67 proliferation index was > 20%, and the mitotic count was > 20 per 2 square millimeters, leading to a final diagnosis of a hepatic neuroendocrine neoplasms, Grade 3 (G3). PHNENs are extremely rare, and, to our knowledge, there have been no reports in the literature of adolescents or young adults diagnosed with the G3-type.
Keywords: Liver, Neuroendocrine neoplasms, Synaptophysin, chromogranin, Surgery
Received: 05 Jan 2025; Accepted: 03 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Luo, Bie, Luo and Huang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Wen ting Huang, Department of Pathology, Cancer Hospital Shenzhen Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Shenzhen, China
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