Recurrence after surgical resection of nonmetastatic sporadic gastrinoma: Which prognostic factors and surgical procedure?

Background: The only curative treatment of gastrinoma is complete resection, but its surgical management remains controversial and prognostic factors of sporadic nonmetastatic gastrinoma are poorly known.
Methods: This was a retrospective study including all patients who underwent elective surgery for nonmetastatic sporadic gastrinoma between 2000 and 2020 in 15 hospitals. The primary and secondary outcomes were overall survival and disease-free survival predictive factors.
Results: In total, 108 patients were included, of which 68 (63%) were duodenal, 19 (18%) pancreatic, and 21 (19%) primary lymph node gastrinomas, with no major difference in clinical presentation. Among the 68 duodenal gastrinomas, 26% (n = 18) underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) and 74% (n = 50) underwent duodenotomy with the excision of duodenal wall tumors and lymphadenectomy (DUODX + LN). Overall, the median overall survival was 173 months, and the 5-year overall survival was 94%, with no predictive factors identified. The median disease-free survival was 93 months, and the 5-year disease-free survival was 63%. Tumor size >2 cm (P = .00001), grade (P = .00001), and pancreatic tumor location (P = .0001) were predictive factors of recurrence; however, in multivariate analysis, only tumor size >2 cm (P = .005) and grade (P = .013) were independent predictors of recurrence. Age, sex, preoperative gastrin level, lymphadenectomy <10 resected lymph nodes, and metastatic lymph nodes on surgical specimens were not predictors of recurrence. For duodenal gastrinomas, surgical procedures (PD versus DUODX + LN) did not have a significant effect on overall survival and disease-free survival.
Conclusion: Sporadic nonmetastatic gastrinomas had an excellent overall survival. Recurrence is frequent and influenced by tumor size and grade. Regarding sporadic duodenal gastrinoma, duodenotomy with excision of duodenal wall tumors with lymphadenectomy could be considered a valid surgical option, in the absence of clear oncologic superiority of PD.
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