Medical treatment and long-term survival in a prospective study of 84 patients with endocrine pancreatic tumors.

A prospective study was performed on 84 patients with neuroendocrine pancreatic tumors. Fifty-nine (70%) had malignant tumors and received causal medical treatment. Streptozotocin in combination with 5-fluorouracil or doxorubicin was used as first-line treatment and produced overall objective responses in 20 of 44 (45%) patients with a median duration of response of 27.5 months. Thirty-two patients who failed on chemotherapy subsequently received interferon treatment and 20 (63%) responded objectively with a median duration of 20.5 months. Octreotide, third-line treatment in 14 patients, produced objective responses in four patients (28%) (median duration of response, 16 months). The median survival from diagnosis in malignant cases was 6.7 years. Even if none of the current medical therapies are curative for patients with malignant endocrine pancreatic tumors, a prolonged survival would be observed during the last decade. Since the age at diagnosis has not been dramatically reduced despite improvements in diagnostic methods, the prolonged survival might be attributed to causal medical treatment.