Human Papillomavirus Type and Clinical Manifestation in Seven Cases of Large-cell Neuroendocrine Cervical Carcinoma

Large-cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCNEC) of the uterine cervix is a very rare malignancy. We aimed to investigate the role of human papillomavirus (HPV) on the survival of patients, and its correlation with clinical parameters of HPV status or survival outcomes. Only seven cases of LCNEC were retrospectively collected among 8018 (0.087%) invasive cervical carcinomas from the cancer registry systems at Mackay Memorial Hospital and Veterans General Hospital over a period of 17 years. The median survival time was 17.2 months, including only one long-term survivor (> 5 years). The 2-year and 5-year survival rates after diagnosis were 42% and 30%, respectively. The results indicated that the majority of LCNEC cases were dominated by high-risk HPV-18. No clinical parameters appeared to be associated with HPV-18 or survival outcomes of LCNEC patients. Pelvic lymph node metastasis positivity could also be considered as a prognostic factor for this disease.