Low dose octreotide and tamoxifen in the treatment of adenocarcinoma of the pancreas.

作者信息

Rosenberg L, Barkun A N, Denis M H, Pollak M

机构信息

Pancreatic Diseases Centre, Montreal General Hospital, Canada.

出版信息

Cancer. 1995 Jan 1;75(1):23-8. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(19950101)75:1<23::aid-cncr2820750106>3.0.co;2-a.

BACKGROUND

Data from experimental studies suggest that a combination of octreotide, the long acting somatostatin analogue, octreotide, and tamoxifen improves the survival of animals with pancreatic cancer.

METHODS

Twelve patients with a tissue diagnosis of ductal adenocarcinoma of the pancreas were treated with 100 micrograms of octreotide three times per day and tamoxifen 10 mg twice daily. The survival of the octreotide-tamoxifen group was compared with a historic cohort of 68 untreated patients with pancreatic cancer, matched for age, sex, and TNM stage.

RESULTS

The median survival times for the octreotide-tamoxifen-treated group compared with the historic cohort were 12 and 3, months respectively. Actuarial one-year survival rates for the octreotide-tamoxifen-treated group compared with the historic cohort were 59% and 16%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

In this study, patients with unresectable and resected ductal adenocarcinoma of the pancreas had an apparently increased survival when treated with a combination of octreotide and tamoxifen. A randomized controlled trial to examine this potential therapeutic benefit is now indicated.