Objective  To investigate the clinical characteristics, diagnosis, treatment, and prognostic factors of pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (PNENs).

  Methods  From August 2004 to August 2016, the clinical data of 63 patients with PNENs in the Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, an affiliate of the Zhejiang University School of Medicine, were retrospectively analyzed. The data included age, gender, function, tumor location, tumor size, pathological characteristics, lymph nodes, metastasis, and treatment. Association of these factors with PNEN prognosis was proven by univariate analysis and multivariate analysis.

  Results  In our study, the patients' overall survival time was between 5 and 127 months; the median time was about 46.6 months. Moreover, the survival rates in three years and five years are 88.8% and 84.1% respectively. Univariate analysis showed that factors such as lymph node metastasis, liver metastasis, vascular invasion, TNM staging and pathological grading, and radical operation were associated with prognosis (P < 0.05). We did not prove any of the factors to be an independent factor associated with poor short-term outcome by multivariate analysis.

  Conclusion  PNENs are rare low-grade malignant tumors with heterogeneity, which is why they can be erroneously diagnosed. AJCC TNM staging in 2017 and the WHO pathological classification in 2010 can actively guide the prognosis evaluation. The lymph node metastasis, liver metastasis, and vascular invasion affected the prognosis of PNENs. Patients with radical operation had improved prognosis.