OBJECTIVES: Neuroendocrine tumours (NETs) are heterogeneous neoplasms for which there is no standard treatment. We have previously proposed an effective polychemotherapy (5-fluorouracil, dacarbazine and epirubicin), which only produced objective responses of brief duration. The present study aimed to assess in a multidisciplinary manner the efficacy of the same regimen at intensified doses in patients with advanced NETs. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Eighty-two consecutive patients entered the study, of whom 21 had inoperable, locally advanced disease and 61 had metastatic disease. Seventy-two patients were evaluated for objective, biochemical and subjective responses. Response rate, time to progression (TTP) and overall survival (OS) were evaluated based on histotype. RESULTS: An objective response was observed in 20 patients (intention-to-treat and standard analysis 24.4% and 27.8%, respectively). Complete biochemical and subjective responses were obtained in 25.1% and 38.9% of the cases. The median duration of treatment was 4 months and the objective responses had a median duration of 38 months. After a 60-month follow-up the median TTP and OS were 21 and 38 months, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our polychemotherapy regimen is effective, with long duration, and is well tolerated both for gastroenteropancreatic and lung NETs, as well as for tumours with a more aggressive clinical behaviour. The new WHO endocrine tumour histotyping, examining also the tumour biology, may give additional information for selecting patients to chemotherapy.
OBJECTIVES:Neuroendocrine tumours (NETs) are heterogeneous neoplasms for which there is no standard treatment. We have previously proposed an effective polychemotherapy (5-fluorouracil, dacarbazine and epirubicin), which only produced objective responses of brief duration. The present study aimed to assess in a multidisciplinary manner the efficacy of the same regimen at intensified doses in patients with advanced NETs. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Eighty-two consecutive patients entered the study, of whom 21 had inoperable, locally advanced disease and 61 had metastatic disease. Seventy-two patients were evaluated for objective, biochemical and subjective responses. Response rate, time to progression (TTP) and overall survival (OS) were evaluated based on histotype. RESULTS: An objective response was observed in 20 patients (intention-to-treat and standard analysis 24.4% and 27.8%, respectively). Complete biochemical and subjective responses were obtained in 25.1% and 38.9% of the cases. The median duration of treatment was 4 months and the objective responses had a median duration of 38 months. After a 60-month follow-up the median TTP and OS were 21 and 38 months, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our polychemotherapy regimen is effective, with long duration, and is well tolerated both for gastroenteropancreatic and lung NETs, as well as for tumours with a more aggressive clinical behaviour. The new WHO endocrine tumour histotyping, examining also the tumour biology, may give additional information for selecting patients to chemotherapy.
Authors: J K Ramage; A H G Davies; J Ardill; N Bax; M Caplin; A Grossman; R Hawkins; A M McNicol; N Reed; R Sutton; R Thakker; S Aylwin; D Breen; K Britton; K Buchanan; P Corrie; A Gillams; V Lewington; D McCance; K Meeran; A Watkinson Journal: Gut Date: 2005-06 Impact factor: 23.059
Authors: S Pusceddu; L Catena; M Valente; R Buzzoni; B Formisano; M Del Vecchio; M Ducceschi; L Tavecchio; A Fabbri; E Bajetta Journal: J Thorac Dis Date: 2010-03 Impact factor: 2.895
Authors: Rafael Molina; Elias Alvarez; Angeles Aniel-Quiroga; Maria Borque; Belen Candás; Antonio Leon; Rafael M Poyatos; Montserrat Gelabert Journal: Tumour Biol Date: 2010-08-21
Authors: Timucin Taner; Thomas D Atwell; Lizhi Zhang; Trynda N Oberg; William S Harmsen; Seth W Slettedahl; Michael L Kendrick; David M Nagorney; Florencia G Que Journal: HPB (Oxford) Date: 2012-07-26 Impact factor: 3.647
Authors: Leticia Labriola; Maria G Peters; Karin Krogh; Iván Stigliano; Letícia F Terra; Cecilia Buchanan; Marcel C C Machado; Elisa Bal de Kier Joffé; Lydia Puricelli; Mari C Sogayar Journal: BMC Cell Biol Date: 2009-06-19 Impact factor: 4.241