Shortened interval of long-acting octreotide administration is effective in patients with well-differentiated neuroendocrine carcinomas in progression on standard doses

In patients with well-differentiated (WD) neuroendocrine tumors (NET), long-acting octreotide (LAR), conventionally administered at a dose of 30 mg every 28 days, has well-documented anti-secretive but limited antiproliferative effects.

The objective of this study was to evaluate a different schedule of LAR treatment consistent with a shorter interval between administrations (21 days) in WDNET patients with progressive disease at standard-dose interval.

Twenty-eight patients followed for diagnosis and therapy of WDNET who had tumor progression during therapy with LAR 30 mg every 28 days were enrolled. Clinical, biological, and objective tumor response was evaluated after LAR 30 mg every 21 days. Time to progression was also evaluated after LAR 30 mg every 21 days and compared to LAR 30 mg every 28 days.

The treatment with LAR 30 mg every 21 days resulted in complete and partial control of clinical symptoms in 40% and 60% of cases, respectively. Circulating neuroendocrine markers were significantly decreased in 30% of cases. A stabilization of disease was obtained in 93% and objective response in 7%. The median time to progression was significantly longer by using the shortened interval of LAR administration as compared to the standard one (30 vs 9 months, p<0.0001). The treatment was safe and well tolerated.

The shortened schedule of LAR administration was able to re-institute control of clinical symptoms, to decrease level of circulating neuroendocrine markers and to increase time to progression in patients previously escaping from a standard schedule treatment.