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The Gastroenteropancreatic Neuroendocrine Cell System and Its Tumors: The WHO Classification
Author(s) -
KLÖPPEL GÜNTER,
PERREN AUREL,
HEITZ PHILIPP U.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1196/annals.1294.002
Subject(s) - neuroendocrine tumors , malignancy , neuroendocrine cell , medicine , pathology , carcinoid tumors , oncology , immunohistochemistry
A bstract : Although well established in medical terminology, the term carcinoid is no longer adequate to cover the entire morphological and biological spectrum of neoplasms of the disseminated neuroendocrine cell system. Therefore, instead of carcinoid, the WHO classification published in 2000 uses the general terms neuroendocrine tumor and neuroendocrine carcinoma. In this review a classification of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors based on the WHO criteria is described. We also classify and comment on the most important tumor entities. On the basis of localization and of various morphological and biological criteria, we distinguish between benign neuroendocrine tumors, tumors with uncertain malignant potential, and tumors showing low‐grade and high‐grade malignancy.