Ten-year adjuvant treatment with somatostatin analogs in a patient with atypical carcinoid of the lung

Both typical carcinoid and atypical carcinoid (AC) of the lung are surgically curable, but AC carries a considerably worse prognosis because of a relatively high rate of recurrence. Adjuvant therapy can be conducted with radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and somatostatin analogs (SST-As), but its effectiveness in preventing locoregional and distant recurrences is yet to be fully investigated. A 48-year-old woman, presenting with AC, was free of both radiographical and biochemical signs of residual disease, after surgery and chemotherapy. To prevent disease recurrence, she underwent long-term adjuvant treatment based on SST-As. During the 10-year follow-up period, no side effects referable to SST-As have been reported and no evidence of recurrence of the disease has been detected. In consideration of the relatively high recurrence rate of the disease and of excellent tolerance for SST-As, long-term adjuvant treatment based on SST-As could become a therapeutic option for surgically cured patients with AC. Clinical investigations, conducted in large samples of patients, are necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of such an approach.