Skip to main content
PMC home page
British Journal of Cancer logoLink to British Journal of Cancer
. 1999 Dec;81(8):1351–1355. doi: 10.1038/sj.bjc.6690325

Treatment of poorly differentiated neuroendocrine tumours with etoposide and cisplatin

E Mitry 1,6, E Baudin 2, M Ducreux 1, J-C Sabourin 3, P Rufié 4, T Aparicio 1, P Lasser 5, D Elias 5, P Duvillard 3, M Schlumberger 2, P Rougier 1,6
PMCID: PMC2362979  PMID: 10604732

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate by a retrospective analysis of 53 patients the efficacy of chemotherapy combining etoposide and cisplatin in the treatment of neuroendocrine tumours. The regimen was a combination of etoposide 100 mg m–2 day–1 for 3 days and cisplatin 100 mg m–2 on day 1, given by 2-h intravenous infusion, administered every 21 days. Twelve patients had a well-differentiated and 41 a poorly differentiated neuroendocrine tumour. Toxicity of treatment was assessed in 50 patients and efficacy in 52 patients. Among the 11 patients with a well-differentiated tumour evaluable for tumoural response, only one (9.4%) had a partial response for 8.5 months. Forty-one patients with a poorly differentiated tumour showed an objective response rate of 41.5% (four complete and 13 partial responses); the median duration of response was 9.2 months, the median overall survival 15 months and the median progression-free survival 8.9 months. Haematological grade 3–4 toxicity was observed in 60% of the cases with one treatment-related death, digestive grade 3–4 toxicity in 40% and grade 3 alopecia was constant. No severe renal, hearing and neurological toxicities were observed (grade 1 in 6%, 14%, 72% respectively and no grade >1). We confirm that poorly differentiated neuroendocrine tumours are chemosensitive to the etoposide plus cisplatin combination. However, the prognosis remains poor with a 2-year survival lower than 20% confirming that new therapeutic strategies have to be developed. © 1999 Cancer Research Campaign

Keywords: neuroendocrine carcinoma, treatment, retrospective study

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (79.0 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Baudin E., Bidart J. M., Rougier P., Lazar V., Ruffié P., Ropers J., Ducreux M., Troalen F., Sabourin J. C., Comoy E. Screening for multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 and hormonal production in apparently sporadic neuroendocrine tumors. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1999 Jan;84(1):69–75. doi: 10.1210/jcem.84.1.5445. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Baudin E., Gigliotti A., Ducreux M., Ropers J., Comoy E., Sabourin J. C., Bidart J. M., Cailleux A. F., Bonacci R., Ruffié P. Neuron-specific enolase and chromogranin A as markers of neuroendocrine tumours. Br J Cancer. 1998 Oct;78(8):1102–1107. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1998.635. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Gould V. E., Linnoila R. I., Memoli V. A., Warren W. H. Neuroendocrine cells and neuroendocrine neoplasms of the lung. Pathol Annu. 1983;18(Pt 1):287–330. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Greenberg R. S., Baumgarten D. A., Clark W. S., Isacson P., McKeen K. Prognostic factors for gastrointestinal and bronchopulmonary carcinoid tumors. Cancer. 1987 Nov 15;60(10):2476–2483. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(19871115)60:10<2476::aid-cncr2820601022>3.0.co;2-r. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Hainsworth J. D., Johnson D. H., Greco F. A. Poorly differentiated neuroendocrine carcinoma of unknown primary site. A newly recognized clinicopathologic entity. Ann Intern Med. 1988 Sep 1;109(5):364–371. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-109-5-364. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Janson E. T., Holmberg L., Stridsberg M., Eriksson B., Theodorsson E., Wilander E., Oberg K. Carcinoid tumors: analysis of prognostic factors and survival in 301 patients from a referral center. Ann Oncol. 1997 Jul;8(7):685–690. doi: 10.1023/a:1008215730767. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Johnson L. A., Lavin P., Moertel C. G., Weiland L., Dayal Y., Doos W. G., Geller S. A., Cooper H. S., Nime F., Massé S. Carcinoids: the association of histologic growth pattern and survival. Cancer. 1983 Mar 1;51(5):882–889. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(19830301)51:5<882::aid-cncr2820510522>3.0.co;2-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. MANTEL N., HAENSZEL W. Statistical aspects of the analysis of data from retrospective studies of disease. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1959 Apr;22(4):719–748. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. McDermott E. W., Guduric B., Brennan M. F. Prognostic variables in patients with gastrointestinal carcinoid tumours. Br J Surg. 1994 Jul;81(7):1007–1009. doi: 10.1002/bjs.1800810725. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Miller A. B., Hoogstraten B., Staquet M., Winkler A. Reporting results of cancer treatment. Cancer. 1981 Jan 1;47(1):207–214. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(19810101)47:1<207::aid-cncr2820470134>3.0.co;2-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Modlin I. M., Sandor A. An analysis of 8305 cases of carcinoid tumors. Cancer. 1997 Feb 15;79(4):813–829. doi: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0142(19970215)79:4<813::aid-cncr19>3.0.co;2-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Moertel C. G., Kvols L. K., O'Connell M. J., Rubin J. Treatment of neuroendocrine carcinomas with combined etoposide and cisplatin. Evidence of major therapeutic activity in the anaplastic variants of these neoplasms. Cancer. 1991 Jul 15;68(2):227–232. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(19910715)68:2<227::aid-cncr2820680202>3.0.co;2-i. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Oberg K. Treatment of neuroendocrine tumors. Cancer Treat Rev. 1994 Oct;20(4):331–355. doi: 10.1016/0305-7372(94)90016-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Pelley R. J., Bukowski R. M. Recent advances in diagnosis and therapy of neuroendocrine tumors of the gastrointestinal tract. Curr Opin Oncol. 1997 Jan;9(1):68–74. doi: 10.1097/00001622-199701000-00011. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Rindi G., Bordi C., Rappel S., La Rosa S., Stolte M., Solcia E. Gastric carcinoids and neuroendocrine carcinomas: pathogenesis, pathology, and behavior. World J Surg. 1996 Feb;20(2):168–172. doi: 10.1007/s002689900026. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Staren E. D., Gould V. E., Warren W. H., Wool N. L., Bines S., Baker J., Bonomi P., Roseman D. L., Economou S. G. Neuroendocrine carcinomas of the colon and rectum: a clinicopathologic evaluation. Surgery. 1988 Dec;104(6):1080–1089. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. WILLIAMS E. D., SANDLER M. The classification of carcinoid tum ours. Lancet. 1963 Feb 2;1(7275):238–239. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(63)90951-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Warren W. H., Faber L. P., Gould V. E. Neuroendocrine neoplasms of the lung. A clinicopathologic update. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 1989 Sep;98(3):321–332. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from British Journal of Cancer are provided here courtesy of Cancer Research UK

RESOURCES