The research findings show that the experimental therapy led to stabilization or regression of patients' cancer in about 70 percent of cases a year after completion of the treatment, now called peptide receptor chemo-radionuclide therapy (PRCRT). The therapy is just catching on across Europe and Australia and now in U.S. clinical trials.
"Results of this study suggest that PRCRT is a highly effective treatment option for patients with progressive NETs with high somatostatin receptor expression," explained Grace Kong, MBBS, principal investigator for this study conducted at the Centre for Cancer Imaging, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne, Australia.
All of these steps together produced encouraging responses in a majority of subjects, with 72 percent survival at two years. More than half of patients were still alive past the five-year mark after therapy.
"The high objective response and long median survival even in patients with more aggressive tumor biology warrant further studies comparing it with other targeted therapies recently approved, despite much lower response rates," Kong added.
Additional information:
Scientific Paper 256: Grace Kong, Mick Thompson, Marnie Collins, Alan Herschtal, Michael Hofman, Val Johnston, Peter Eu, Michael Michael, Rodney Hicks, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, East Melbourne, VIC, Australia, "Response, predictors and long-term outcome of peptide receptor chemoradionuclide therapy (PRCRT) for neuroendocrine tumours,"
Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, 61th Annual Meeting, June 7, 2014, St. Louis, Missouri