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Case Report: cytoreductive prostatectomy after platinum-etoposide chemotherapy for de novo metastatic prostatic small cell neuroendocrine carcinoma

Wang Y, Wang Q, Yang H

Frontiers in urology, 2026

Abstract

Objective: To describe the diagnostic challenges, treatment response, and potential benefits and risks of cytoreductive surgery in de novo metastatic prostatic small cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (SCNEC).

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the clinical course of one patient with de novo metastatic prostatic SCNEC.

Results: A 50-year-old man presented in June 2022 with progressive dysuria for more than 1 year and acute urinary retention for 1 day. Transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) was performed to relieve obstruction, and review of the specimen supported SCNEC. Staging 18F-FDG PET/CT showed an FDG-avid prostate, multiple lymph nodes, and bilateral non-FDG-avid pulmonary nodules without a dominant pulmonary primary; a prostatic primary with clinically suspected pulmonary metastases was favored, although the lung lesions were not biopsied. Seven cycles of etoposide plus cisplatin (EP) produced marked local regression, including a reduction in prostate volume from 72 to 17 cm³, but residual tumor persisted and a RECIST response category could not be assigned retrospectively. Cytoreductive laparoscopic radical prostatectomy was performed in February 2023. Postoperative pathology showed a mixed neuroendocrine-non-neuroendocrine neoplasm (MiNEN). A vesicourethral anastomotic leak improved conservatively, and urinary obstruction improved for approximately 3 months. Disease progressed in July 2023, and irinotecan plus carboplatin provided no durable clinical disease…

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