Diagnostic value of NSE in predicting the grade and metastasis of rectal neuroendocrine tumors

This study aimed to explore the diagnostic value of carcino-embryonic antigen (CEA), carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9), and neurone-specific enolase (NSE) in rectal neuroendocrine tumors (rNETs). A total of 261 rNETs patients admitted to Nanjing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Jiangsu Province Hospital from January 2021 to December 2024 were collected. Among rNETs patients with varying pathological grades, the differences in gender, age, and NSE levels were statistically significant. Aged females and elevated levels of NSE were identified as risk factors for predicting G2/G3 rNETs. Among rNETs patients with and without metastasis, the differences in gender, age, CEA, and NSE levels were statistically significant. Aged females and elevated levels of NSE were identified as risk factors for predicting rNETs metastasis. Binary logistic regression analysis was conducted to derive joint prediction models to predict the grade and metastasis of rNETs. The areas under the curve (AUCs) for age and NSE in predicting grade were 0.626 and 0.708, respectively, both lower than the AUC (0.756) of the model. The AUCs for age and NSE in predicting metastasis were 0.723 and 0.757, respectively, both lower than the AUC (0.847) of the model. In conclusion, NSE demonstrates notable diagnostic value for predicting the grade and metastasis of rNETs.