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

Abstract

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. 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. 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. 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.