Endoscopic ultrasonography is useful in the diagnosis and treatment of rectal neuroendocrine neoplasms: a case series.

Rectal neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs) are low-grade malignancies, which are slow-growing and usually become symptomatic late in the course of the disease (Basuroy et al., 2016). In recent years, rectal NENs are increasingly frequently detected, with the widespread availability and accessibility of endoscopy and cross-sectional imaging modalities (Kos-Kudla et al., 2017). Multiple studies have shown that endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) is an advanced endoscopic technique and is currently used in the diagnosis and preoperative assessment of NENs (Kim, 2012; Liu et al., 2013; Zhang et al., 2017). However, EUS imaging of rectal NEN and differential diagnosis with other submucosal tumors (SMTs) has not been adequately reported. In this study, we reviewed and summarized the EUS imaging and pathological features of rectal NENs of 38 cases to improve preoperative diagnosis rate and reduce unreasonable treatment.