Table 4.

Clinical trials evaluating the role of SSAs in the treatment of HCC.

Somatostatin analog	Trial type	Trial length	Patients/controls	Result	References
Octreotide	R	≤4 years	28/30	[P] Median survival levels of treated patients increased significantly	[77]
Lanreotide	NR	Variable	21/0	[N] Insignificant improvement in most patients; minor life quality improvement of some patients	[78]
Octreotide	R	Variable	12/13	[P] Overall increase in the survivability of treated patients	[129]
Octreotide	R	7 mo.	35/35	[N] No tumor regression, and no improvement in life quality of the patients	[137]
Octreotide/lanreotide	NR	n/a	32/27	[P] Overall improved survival rate of the SSA-treated patients and superior life quality	[130]
Octreotide	NR	6 mo.	63/0	[N] No significant prolongation of survival observed	[156]
Octreotide+tamoxifen	R	3 mo.	24/15	[P] Response of 43% of the patients treated with octreotide and doubling of their survival	[157]
Octreotide	R	Variable	32/33	[P] Improvement of the survival rate of the treated group	[131]
Octreotide	NR	Variable	30/0	[P] Increase of survivability and life quality of patients	[136]
Octreotide	R	Variable	20/25	[P] Improvement of the survival rate of the treated group	[132]
Octreotide	NR	32 mo.	41/33	[N] Similar survivability between the treated patients and the control group treated with TACE	[140]
Octreotide	NR	2 years	26/0	[N] Very limited beneficial response to treatment	[142]
Octreotide	NR	≤12 mo.	63/0	[N] No improvement of patient life quality and minor anticancer activity of octreotide	[144]
Octreotide±rofecoxib	R	min. 6 mo.	71/0	[P] Increased survivability in patients with high IGF and VEGF levels	[149]
Octreotide	R	3 years	31/30	[P] Response of those patients expressing SSTRs and doubling of the survival rate	[145]
Octreotide+tamoxifen	R	Variable	56/53	[N] No clear benefits in patient survival	[147]
Octreotide	R	Variable	60/59	[N] No significant improvement and no objective tumor regression	[138]
Octreotide	R	Variable	16/14	[P] Moderate increase of the survival rate of the treated group	[134]
Octreotide	NR	54 mo.	35/0	[P] Significant tumor regression (14%) and clear clinical benefits (80%) in association with VEGF levels	[154]
Octreotide	NR	72 mo.	95/0	[P] Positive results for the group receiving the octreotide treatment	[127]
Octreotide	NR	30 mo.	22/0	[P] Positive results for 6 patients of Asian descent who had hepatitis B-induced cirrhosis	[146]
Octreotide	R	2 years	135/137	[N] No improvement in patient survival rate and negative consequence on patient life quality	[139]
Octreotide+sorafenib	NR	Variable	50/0	[P] Slightly positive results on the survivability of some patients	[148]
Octreotide	R	Variable	21/24	[P] Increase of survival rate of the treated group and significant 1-year survival increase	[133]
Octreotide+sorafenib	NR	Variable	50/0	[P] Reduction of oxidative stress in the treated group, potentially signifying an antineoplastic effect	[153]
Octreotide+heparin	NR	1 year	84/63	[P] Significant reduction in tumor metastasis of the treated group	[150]
Octreotide	NR	5 years	99/0	[P] Higher survivability in patients with higher SSTR expression	[155]
Pasireotide+everolimus	NR	Variable	24/0	[N] No clear benefit from the combination of pasireotide and everolimus was discerned	[151]
Octreotide+celecoxib	R	3 years	35/36	[P] Prolonged overall survival, enhanced tumor response, and reduced postembolization syndrome of the treated patients	[152]
Pasireotide	NR	≤54 mo.	20/0	[N] Limited clinical benefit of pasireotide as a second- or third-line treatment	[141]

Abbreviations: [P]: positive results; [N]: negative results; R: randomized study; NR: nonrandomized study; mo.: months; n/a: not available.