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Treatment of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) depends largely on whether they can be resected (removed) completely or not. But other factors, such as your overall health, can also affect treatment options. Talk to your doctor if you have any questions about the treatment plan they recommend.

Sometimes it can be hard to determine if cancer is resectable – that is, if it can be removed completely – using just imaging tests. A laparoscopy might be done before surgery to help determine if the tumor can be removed. But even then, cancers sometimes turn out to have spread farther than was first thought.

PNETs are more likely to be resectable than exocrine pancreas cancers (the most common type of pancreatic cancer). Most NETs that have not spread to distant parts of the body are resectable. Even some NETs that have spread might be resectable if they have not spread too far (such as only to a few spots in the liver).

Treating pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (pNETs) that can be removed completely

If the tumor is resectable, surgery will be recommended. The procedure used depends on the type of tumor, its size, and its location in the pancreas. Surgery can range from as little as enucleation (removing just the tumor) to as much as a Whipple procedure (pancreaticoduodenectomy). Lymph nodes are often removed to check for tumor spread.

Before any surgery, medicines are often given to control any symptoms caused by the tumor. For example, drugs to block stomach acid (like proton pump inhibitors) are used for gastrinomas. Often, people with insulinomas are treated with diazoxide to keep blood sugar from getting too low. If the tumor could be seen by somatostatin receptor scintigraphy, a somatostatin analog such as octreotide may be used to control any symptoms.

Surgery alone is all that is needed for many pNETs, but after surgery, close monitoring of the patient is important to look for signs that the cancer may have come back or spread.

Treating pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (pNETs) that can't be removed completely

Unresectable tumors can’t be removed completely with surgery. PNETs are often slow growing, so lab and imaging tests are used to monitor the tumor(s) and look for signs of growth.

People with NETs that have spread outside the pancreas often have symptoms like diarrhea or other hormone-related problems. These can often be helped with medicines like octreotide, lanreotide, diazoxide, and proton pump inhibitors. Some of these might also slow the growth of the tumor.

If further treatment is needed, chemotherapy or targeted drugs (such as sunitinib or everolimus) might be used, but this is usually delayed until a person is having symptoms that can’t be controlled with other drugs or has signs of tumor growth on scans. Surgery or ablative techniques might also be used to treat cancer that has spread to the liver.

For people with poorly differentiated tumors (neuroendocrine carcinomas), chemotherapy typically is the first treatment.

For adults with pNETs that are somatostatin (a type of hormone) receptor-positive, a radiopharmaceutical drug called Lutathera (lutetium Lu 177 dotatate) is also an option for treatment.

You might want to consider taking part in a clinical trial. Clinical trials are studies of new drugs, procedures, and other treatments in people. To learn more, see Clinical Trials.