Gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors, or GEP-NETs, are tumors that form in the gastrointestinal tract. GEP-NETs are formed by neuroendocrine cells, which are nerve cells that produce hormones that can control many of your bodily functions.
When neuroendocrine cells become cancerous, you may experience excessive hormone production.
“GEP-NETs is a cancer that allows us to personalize [the treatment] at a level that we don’t really have with other types of cancers,” says Kimberly Perez, MD, Medical Oncologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.
Treatment options for GEP-NETs
Your treatment options for a GEP-NET depend on where the cancer is located, according to Perez. For example, if the cancer hasn’t spread beyond the organ where it originated, it can potentially be removed with surgery. Your doctor will typically meet with surgeons and radiologists to make sure surgery is right for your particular case.
But if the cancer has spread to other areas, surgery may not be a safe treatment option. In this case, the treatment goal would be to reduce the growth of the tumor.
Here are some ways to reduce the growth of a GEP-NETs tumor:
Chemotherapy
This treatment involves drugs that kill rapidly-dividing cancer cells. It tends to be effective on highly-active or fast-growing tumors. Not all GEP-NETs grow quickly.
Ablation
This treatment targets the tumor with energy waves transmitted through a needle that’s inserted into the skin. The tumor is burned or frozen in order to stop its growth.
Arterial embolization
This treatment is primarily used for patients whose GEP-NETs are in their livers. Through a catheter that is inserted into a peripheral vein, the blood flow to the tumor is stopped, which causes it to stop growing.
External radiation
This may help treat cancer cells that have spread to other parts of the body. A machine targets the area of the body with cancer cells and delivers high-energy radiation beams.
Radioligand therapy
This newer treatment administers radioactive material intravenously, which attaches to receptors that will attack the tumor.
The side effects and outcomes for these treatment options can vary, says Perez. “I encourage patients to remain very hopeful,” she adds. “It is a disease that is very slow-growing; it is a disease in which we’ve developed multiple therapies over the last two decades, which are well-tolerated and very effective.”
Kimberly Perez, MD, is a Medical Oncologist at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA.
References
Chan, J. A., et al. (2023). Metastatic gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors: Local options to control tumor growth and symptoms of hormone hypersecretion. UpToDate.
Cives, M., et al. (2018). Gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.
Del Prete, M., et al. (2014). Hepatic arterial embolization in patients with neuroendocrine tumors. Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research.
Díez, M., et al. (2013). Gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors: Diagnosis and treatment. Annals of Gastroenterology.
U.S. Food & Drug Administration. (2018). FDA approves new treatment for certain digestive tract cancers.
U.S. Food & Drug Administration. (2022). LUTATHERA [package insert].
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