[Tamoxifen for metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma: a complete response]

Pancreatic adenocarcinoma tissue contains estrogen receptors and some pilot studies have suggested that tamoxifen could increase the survival of patients with unresectable pancreatic cancer. However data of comparative studies are conflicting. We report the case of a woman who presented with unresectable pancreatic head carcinoma with hepatic metastasis. The patient refused chemotherapy and was treated with tamoxifen 30 mg/day. A complete clinical remission of 50 months was observed. A further large-scale study may be required to assess the usefulness of tamoxifen in the second-line treatment of advanced pancreatic carcinoma.