The size of rectal neuroendocrine tumors has some correlation with the staging, but the staging criteria do not include tumor size, and the early stage is related to the presence or absence of lymphatic vessels and distant metastases.
Most of the rectal neuroendocrine tumors are below 5mm~10mm in diameter, when the tumor diameter is less than 10mm, most of them are in the early stage, and the early tumors must be free of lymphovascular infiltration and distant metastasis.
Rectal neuroendocrine tumors are mainly classified into low-grade, middle-grade and high-grade by histopathological characteristics, the higher the grade, the worse the prognosis, and the early lesions are mostly in G1 stage. Some rectal neuroendocrine tumors, although less than 10mm in diameter, may have lymphatic metastasis or distant metastasis, which cannot be considered as early stage.
In conclusion, after diagnosis of rectal neuroendocrine tumors, it is recommended to treat them in gastroenterology or oncology in time, and early-stage patients can choose endoscopic mucosal resection or mucosal dissection for treatment.