Any one with Neuroendocrine tumors getting the shot once a month?

Hello @rit333 and welcome to the NETs support group on Mayo Connect. I appreciate you sharing your journey with NETs and I'm glad to hear that the treatments you have received have been helpful to you.

You do not mention how long ago you were diagnosed with NETs in the pancreas nor when it was discovered in the liver. As you are comfortable doing so, please share more about how long ago you were diagnosed. Also, have you had any other treatments besides the monthly injections and the PRRT (Lutathera)?

I just pulled this from Mayo's website:

"Octreotide injection is used to treat severe diarrhea and other symptoms that occur with certain intestinal tumors (eg, vasoactive intestinal peptide tumors or VIPomas) or metastatic carcinoid tumors (tumors that has already spread in the body). It does not cure the tumor but it helps the patient feel more comfortable."

So, I think the Octreotide injections were to help with the symptoms. I don't believe that they stop the tumors from growing. What did you believe the Octreotide shots were for?

I have been told by multiple oncologists that along with managing symptoms it also inhibits the growth. I have no functioning tumors, so no symptoms. Just given it to control growth. My understanding it does not shrink just contain growth for some patients.

Octreotide, a somatostatin analog, plays a significant role in the treatment of neuroendocrine tumors (NETs). It primarily works to inhibit the growth of NETs and control their associated symptoms.

Where did you get the 2nd paragraph from? Or are they your words? I am just trying to clarify and learn. Thanks.

https://www.google.com/search?q=octreotide+not+containing+the+growth+of+neuroendocrine+cancer&rlz=1C1UEAD_enUS1116US1116&oq=octreotide+not+containing+the+growth+of+neuroendocrine+cancer&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRiPAjIHCAIQIRiPAtIBCTIzODIzajBqN6gCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Above is the source. I have read that it is not 100% effective with everyone in controlling growth. Many people still have growth of their tumors. I am in that category. I am seeing my doctors this month and will be asking them if we need to change direction since the tumors are continuing to grow while I am receiving the shot. I had very minor growth in the three months before I started taking the shot.

I take octreotide injections for lung NETs and DIPNECH to control respiratory symptoms (works great) and slow tumor growth. My typical carcinoids are so slow growing to begin with it’s hard for me to say if octreotide is slowing growth more but that is the intent. The docs keep telling me the tumors are stable but since I have 50+ they don’t give me exact measurements on each scan report anymore which is what I would prefer. Where is AI when you need it?

After reading so many posts over the past couple years, it seems like lung NETs and GI NETs are two completely different animals so octreotide may work better for lungs that GI?

Thank you for the information. Sounds like a fair question for your doctors. Knowing that they are growing is always scary. But, you do have options. Are you open to other treatments? Are you leaning towards any?

After being on Ocreotide for almost 2 years a few of my tumors were still growing, after my PRRT (Lutathera) treatments they were shrinking..

@splendrous, thanks for sharing your source of the second paragraph. I appreciate that you shared your experience, the knowledge that your oncologists shared with you as well as information to quote that other people could review. The link opens a AI-generated answer. Google's AI tool called Gemini, scrapes all content on the Internet to provide these summaries.

AI (Artifical Intelligence) tools do not replace human judgment or oversight. Any text, image or video generated by AI should be viewed as a starting point, not verified factual information. It may contain inaccuracies, biases and other problems. You'll see in small print at the end of the AI summary the following caveat "This is for informational purposes only. For medical advice or diagnosis, consult a professional. AI responses may include mistakes."

It's a good idea to fact check and review for accuracy, relevance, and unbiased balance. I recommend clicking the little link icon to also see the original sources. It looks like in this instance the AI answer pulled from evidence-based studies.

Back to your situation @splendrous. I'm sorry to hear that your tumors continue to grow while receiving Octreotide. I'll be interested in hear what your oncologist suggests as next steps. When do you find out more?

I had two lantreotide shots. They controlled my hot flashes and made me feel human but only the next day. After that I felt horrible and it exacerbated my IBS. My Chromogranin A level doubled to 603 before the shots and halved after them. I have not had any discernible tumors anywhere so shall I continue with maybe octrotide in an attempt to feel human?