Feasibility and efficacy of combined cisplatin plus irinotecan chemotherapy for gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine carcinomas

No standard treatment is currently available for gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine carcinomas (GEP-NEC). Therefore, we conducted this study to evaluate the effect of the combination of irinotecan and cisplatin in the treatment of GEP-NECs. Clinical data of 16 locally advanced or metastatic GEP-NEC patients treated with irinotecan plus cisplatin regimen in our center from September 2009 to August 2011 were reviewed. The regimen included 2-week cycles of 180 mg/m² irinotecan and 50 mg/m² cisplatin on day 1. Median age was 57 years. The overall response rate was 57.1 %, with a disease control rate of 78.6 %. One patient achieved pathologic complete response and underwent esophagectomy after chemotherapy. Two patients who had gotten progressive disease were given sequential octreotide long-acting release (LAR) treatment and got disease progression again within 1 month. Six patients who achieved disease control received octreotide LAR as maintenance treatment. The total number of cycles of octreotide was 41, with a median of 4.5 (3–20 cycles). The progression-free survival was 5.5 months, with overall survival of 10.6 months. Grades 3–4 hematological adverse events (AEs) occurred in 10 patients (62.5 %) and 3 patients (18.7 %) suffered grades 3–4 non-hematological AEs; no patient died of AEs. The irinotecan plus cisplatin chemotherapy is moderately effective and tolerable well tolerated in advanced or metastatic GEP-NEC patients; octreotide LAR may be a good maintenance treatment and should be considered as a treatment option for these patients in the future.