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Liver transplants can extend survival for patients with neuroendocrine liver metastases (NELM), but most patients will eventually see their cancer return. A Mayo Clinic study found a 10-year overall survival rate of 44.3%, with a median survival of ~9 years post-transplant. Researchers stress that recurrence — which occurs in about two-thirds of patients — isn't a death sentence, with a median post-recurrence survival of over 4 years.
Liver transplantation can deliver durable long-term survival for carefully selected patients with neuroendocrine liver metastases (NELM), but it's rarely a cure. That's the key message from a retrospective Mayo Clinic study of 47 patients presented at the 2026 NANETS Multidisciplinary NET Medical Symposium. The most common primary tumor sites were the pancreas and small bowel, and the median patient age was 48 years.
The data showed a median overall survival (OS) of ~9 years and a median disease-free survival (DFS) of ~4 years post-transplant. Roughly two-thirds of patients experienced recurrence, with a median time to recurrence of 2.3 years — meaning long-term follow-up, potentially lifelong, is essential. Tumor replacement of more than 50% of the liver was the strongest predictor of poor outcomes.
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Why it matters: These findings help clinicians counsel NELM patients more accurately — transplant can offer meaningful, extended survival, and even after recurrence, treatments like somatostatin analogs and peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) can provide significant benefit.
