title: Endocrine tumors of the ileum: factors correlated with survival.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the most important factors correlated with survival in patients with endocrine tumors of the ileum, both at the time of diagnosis and during the follow-up period.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty-nine patients with ileal endocrine tumors diagnosed in our institution between 1990 and 2004 were studied.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The study included 36 men (61%) and 23 women (39%). The median age of the patients at the time of diagnosis was 61.4 (range 18-83) years. The median follow-up period was 71.9 (range 5-287) months. Forty patients (67.8%) were still alive at the end of the study; the median survival time was 172 months, and the 5-year survival rate was 78.9%. By univariate analysis, the survival rate was significantly related to female sex (p = 0.024) and flushing alone (p = 0.028) and associated with diarrhea at diagnosis (p = 0.015), weight loss at diagnosis (p = 0.038), Ki-67 level (p = 0.025), stage of disease at diagnosis (p = 0.012), presence of liver metastases at follow-up (p = 0.005), presence of diffuse metastases at diagnosis (p = 0.005) and at follow-up (p = 0.007), and type of surgical approach (overall: p = 0.018; not operated vs. radical surgery: p = 0.008; not operated vs. palliative surgery: p = 0.045). Using multivariate analysis, only female gender (p = 0.012) and the presence of liver metastases at follow-up (p = 0.004) were significantly related to survival.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In the present study, female gender and the appearance of liver metastases at follow-up seem to be the main conditions which determine the poor prognosis of patients with ileal endocrine tumors.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Medicina Interna e Gastroenterologia, Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italia. paola.tomassetti@unibo.it
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tomassetti
authors.forename: Davide
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Campana
authors.forename: Lydia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Piscitelli
authors.forename: Riccardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Casadei
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nori
authors.forename: Emilio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Brocchi
authors.forename: Donatella
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Santini
authors.forename: Raffaele
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pezzilli
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Corinaldesi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000209:etiology; D004701:Endocrine Gland Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005483:Flushing / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D007078:Ileal Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000556:secondary; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012737:Sex Factors; D016019:Survival Analysis