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Low dose octreotide and tamoxifen in the treatment of adenocarcinoma of the pancreas
Author(s) -
Rosenberg Lawrence,
Barkun Alan N.,
Denis Marie H.,
Pollak Michael
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/1097-0142(19950101)75:1<23::aid-cncr2820750106>3.0.co;2-a
Subject(s) - tamoxifen , octreotide , medicine , pancreatic cancer , pancreas , cohort , adenocarcinoma , gastroenterology , breast cancer , stage (stratigraphy) , somatostatin , cancer , oncology , paleontology , biology
Abstract 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 μg 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.