The beneficial effect of tamoxifen therapy in patients with resected adenocarcinoma of the pancreas.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Hormone therapy by tamoxifen was performed on patients with adenocarcinoma of the pancreas and the effect of tamoxifen on their survival rate was evaluated in patients with resected pancreatic adenocarcinoma (n = 65).

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Tamoxifen was administered once daily (at 20 mg) in addition to immunochemotherapy (Tegaful, Mitomycin, Krestin or OK-432).

RESULTS

A remarkably beneficial effect of tamoxifen was found when compared with non-tamoxifen group (p < 0.01). When the location of the pancreatic carcinoma was considered, the survival rate of the tamoxifen group with adenocarcinoma in the head and in also the body/tail of the pancreas revealed the same statistically significant difference (p < 0.01) individually. Regarding curability by surgery, the beneficial effect of tamoxifen was observed even in the survival rate of patients who had received noncurative surgery. Furthermore, the remarkable effect of tamoxifen was revealed in the male group, whose one-year survival rate for resected carcinoma in the head of the pancreas was 85.6% (n = 16) as when compared to 19.1% of non-tamoxifen group (n = 15) and also in the female group whose one-year survival rate was 53.8% (n = 1.3) compared with 21.4% of non-tamoxifen group (n = 7) (p < 0.01).

CONCLUSION

With these data, we can see that the adjuvant therapy of tamoxifen in carcinoma of the pancreas confers a significant benefit to those patients who have received a surgical resection and reduction in the volume of the carcinoma in the pancreas.