Background: Long-acting sandostatin (S-LAR; octreotide acetate) is well tolerated and effective for symptom control and possibly disease control in gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs). We undertook a retrospective analysis to study the efficacy and tolerability of higher doses (more than 20-30 mg/month) of S-LAR in GEP-NETs.
Patients and methods: With IRB approval, charts of all patients with GEP-NET who received S-LAR between June 2002 to September 2007 at Roswell Park Cancer Institute were reviewed and their data analyzed.
Results: Fifty-four patients with GEP-NET received S-LAR; thirty required dose escalation. Patients received a median of 5 doses of S-LAR at conventional dose followed by up-titration of the dose for symptom control (20) and radiological progression (17). Median high dose of S-LAR was 40 mg (range: 40-90 mg) with a median of 8.5 high doses received. No treatment related toxicities were seen. The estimated 1-year survival for patients on conventional dose alone was 0.77 (95% CI of 0.50 to 0.91) and those on high-dose was 0.88 (95% CI of 0.68 to 0.96) (p=0.4777) while median time to any other intervention was 2.9 months versus 17.7 months (p=0.12).
Conclusion: Dose escalation of S-LAR is well tolerated and may provide longer disease control.