info about small cell neuroendocrine tumor

Neuroendocrine cancer

Tara,

I am sorry for your husband's diagnosis. I am not a doctor but have researched a lot on this type of cancer (PCa) cells while investigating on PCa mutations due to my hormonal treatment. You may not receive many responses to your inquire because small cell PCa cases are rare and the existence of neuroendocrine cells rarely are investigated when analyzing the biopsy cores in laboratory. Different staining is required which is not commonly requested.
My lay opinion is that surgery is the best approach (if not the only approach). scPCa is fast spreading so that one needs to be fast in attacking it removing the tumor (the gland) for good. Only fewer doctors have experience in treating this aggressive type of cancer.

I wonder what made your husband to go through the biopsy. Was there any particular symptom?
How about any high level of cancer markers (blood tests) such as CGA, NSE, PSA, PAP or CEA?
You comment that no Gleason score has been attributed but can you tell if adenocarcinoma was also existent together with the small-cell carcinoma?

Apart from surgery that can provide cure, this type of cancers are treated similarly to those to treat small-cell lung cancer. Chemotherapy is the main treatment with radiation used as palliative for local control of symptoms if cancer metastasizes. Cisplatin and Etoposide are the most commonly recommended drugs, so that you may investigate which side effects would be experienced by your husband.

Typically, neuroendocrine cancer is classified as “AR-negative PCa” (in comparison with adenocarcinomas which are AR-positive) so that do not respond to hormonal treatments. They also do not produce PSA serum (rare cases do) requiring different markers for controlling/verifying any advance of the disease or to check about treatment success/outcome or recurrence. Chromogranin, Synaptophysin, Neuron specific enolase and  CD56 are the markers of choice in your husband's case.

Here is a link regarding neuroendocrine tumors (NETs);

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4297323/

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1611899-overview

Here are links regarding chemo drugs;

https://www.drugs.com/cdi/cisplatin.html

https://www.drugs.com/search.php?searchterm=etoposide

I hope my comments above are helpful. I think you need to confront the situation positively even if not much is known about this type of cancer.

Best wishes and luck in his journey.

VGama