Treatment
For symptomatic relief of carcinoid syndrome:
- octreotide (a somatostatin analogue which decreases the secretion of serotonin by the tumor and, secondarily, decreases the breakdown product of serotonin (5-HIAA))
- peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) with lutetium-177, yttrium-90 or indium-111 labelled to octreotate is highly effective
- methysergide maleate (antiserotonin agent but not used because of serious side effect of retroperitoneal fibrosis)
- cyproheptadine (an antihistamine drug with antiserotonergic effects)
Alternative treatment for qualifying candidates:
- Surgical resection of tumor and chemotherapy (5-FU and doxorubicin)
- Endovascular, Chemoembolization, targeted chemotherapy directly delivered to the liver through special catheters mixed with embolic beads (particles that block blood vessels). For patients with liver metastases.
Read more about this topic: Carcinoid Syndrome
Famous quotes containing the word treatment:
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—C. John Sommerville (20th century)
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“James’s great gift, of course, was his ability to tell a plot in shimmering detail with such delicacy of treatment and such fine aloofness—that is, reluctance to engage in any direct grappling with what, in the play or story, had actually “taken place”Mthat his listeners often did not, in the end, know what had, to put it in another way, “gone on.””
—James Thurber (1894–1961)