Dose escalation of octreotide LAR is safe and effective in patients with advanced gastrointestinal neuroendocrine tumours for control of symptoms and tumor progression.

摘要

Octreotide is a powerful drug for patients with gastroentero-pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NET). We recently reviewed in this Journal the role of somatostatin analogs as antiproliferative agents, but so far no results from randomized controlled trials were available (1). Meanwhile, the PROMID-study has established that a monthly dose of 30 mg octreotide-Long Acting Release (LAR) controls tumor growth in patients with advanced midgut neuroendocrine tumors, resulting in an important benefit in progression free survival compared to placebo (14.3 versus 6 months, hazard ratio = 0.34 ; 95% CI, 0.20 to 0.59 ; p = 0.000072) (2).