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Getting the right treatment for your neuroendocrine tumor (NET) starts with a little fact-finding. The most important things to figure out are where the disease started and whether it has spread. If your tumor is small and growing slowly, you may not need treatment.
How do I choose the right treatment for a neuroendocrine tumor?
This can give you a better chance for successful treatment. Surgery is often the main therapy for MEN. Like all surgeries, surgery to treat multiple endocrine neoplasia is most successful when performed by a specialist with a great deal of experience in the particular procedure.
What is the best treatment for multiple endocrine neoplasia?
The NIDDK conducts and supports clinical trials in many diseases and conditions, including endocrine diseases. The trials look to find new ways to prevent, detect, or treat disease and improve quality of life. What are clinical trials for MEN1? —are part of medical research and involve people like you.
What are clinical trials for endocrine diseases?
If the person develops carcinoid syndrome, surgery to remove as much cancer as possible is often recommended. Chemotherapy and radiation therapy may also be offered to help relieve symptoms.
What are the treatment options for carcinoid syndrome?
What is the best treatment for endocrine neoplasia?
Surgery is often the main therapy for MEN. Like all surgeries, surgery to treat multiple endocrine neoplasia is most successful when performed by a specialist with a great deal of experience in the particular procedure. MD Anderson surgeons are among the most skilled and recognized in the world.
How to treat men1?
Surgery: Many times, the affected gland can be surgically removed to treat symptoms caused by MEN. Hyperparathyroidism caused by MEN1 is typically treated with surgical removal of three-and-a-half of the four parathyroid glands, although sometimes all four glands are removed, with a portion of the parathyroid gland inserted into the forearm.
Why do we see more patients with multiple endocrine neoplasia than most programs?
Because we see more patients with multiple endocrine neoplasia than most programs, we have a higher level of experience and skill in treating these rare and complex diseases. This can give you a better chance for successful treatment.
Does MD Anderson have clinical trials?
MD Anderson patients have access to clinical trials offering promising new treatments that cannot be found anywhere else.
How do doctors treat MEN1?
Although MEN1 can’t be cured, most people with the disorder lead long and productive lives. Your doctor will monitor your health and provide treatment as needed.
What to do if you have a tumor removed?
Your doctor may prescribe medicines to reduce the size of the tumor and treat related problems. Postsurgery treatment . If a surgery removes an entire endocrine gland—or more than three parathyroid glands—your doctor may prescribe medicines to replace the hormones that your body is no longer making.
How do doctors diagnose MEN1?
Your doctor will diagnose you as having MEN1 if you meet one of these three criteria 5
What is MEN1 tumor?
MEN1 causes tumors to develop in endocrine glands and other parts of the body. Although most of these tumors are noncancerous, they can cause the affected glands to increase in size and become overactive, producing too much hormone.
What is the purpose of the NIDDK?
The NIDDK conducts and supports clinical trials in many diseases and conditions, including endocrine diseases. The trials look to find new ways to prevent, detect, or treat disease and improve quality of life.
How rare is Men1?
MEN1 is a rare, inherited condition, occurring in about 1 in 30,000 people. 1
What is MEN1 in biology?
Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1) is a rare genetic disorder that mainly affects the endocrine glands. Located in different parts of the body, these glands control the production of hormones that direct many body processes, including growth, digestion, and sexual function. View full-sized image.
Where is multiple endocrine neoplasia treated?
Multiple endocrine neoplasias are treated in our Endocrine Center.
Why come to MD Anderson for multiple endocrine neoplasia treatment?
Multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN) syndromes are treated in MD Anderson's Endocrine Center, one of the nation's most active programs for diagnosis and treatment of these complex and rare diseases.
What is a MEN1?
Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1) Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1), also called multiple endocrine adenomatosis or Wermer's syndrome, is found in one in 30,000 people. It can affect people of any age, ethnic group or gender. It is caused by mutations in the MEN1 gene, which is a tumor suppressor gene.
What is the treatment for neuroendocrine tumors?
Once you have been diagnosed with neuroendocrine tumors (NET), your care team will work with you to develop a comprehensive treatment plan based on your unique diagnosis and needs . Since most NET patients are diagnosed at an advanced stage, an integrative approach is key to your well-being. Treatment for NETs varies, depending on factors such as the type and stage of NET. Common treatment options for neuroendocrine tumors include:
What is the best treatment for a tumor that cannot be removed?
Palliative surgery: If a tumor cannot be fully removed, but reducing its size could decrease symptoms, palliative surgery may be an option. This type of surgery focuses on improving comfort and quality of life. It may be paired with radiation therapy.
What to do if a tumor cannot be removed?
Debulking surgery: If the entire tumor cannot be removed, debulking it—or removing some of it—may be an option. Debulking surgery may help relieve some symptoms caused by an NET.
What is Cyberknife used for?
CyberKnife ® may be a non-invasive option for some patients and enables our radiation oncologists to deliver high, targeted doses of radiation to NETs.
What is the best treatment for pancreatic NET?
Some targeted therapies for pancreatic NETs include everolimus and sunitinib.
What is a clinical trial in cancer?
Your cancer care team can also help you explore options for taking part in a clinical trial, which provides treatment as part of a research study. Clinical trials help determine whether a new treatment—including new drugs, different doses or a novel combination of treatments—may be better than the current standard approach for that type and stage of cancer.
Does Hormone Therapy shrink a tumor?
Hormone therapy for NETs typically doesn’t shrink a tumor, but it may slow its growth. It’s primarily used to control the substances released from an NET, which are similar to hormones. These substances often create symptoms, so hormone therapy may reduce some of these symptoms. Hormone therapy for NETs centers around somatostatin, a hormone that plays a part in controlling other hormones such as insulin. Somatostatin analogs are drugs that act like the hormone somatostatin to reduce the symptoms caused by an NET.
What is the best treatment for pituitary tumors?
Surgery to remove the diseased gland is often the treatment of choice. A medicine called bromocriptine may be used instead of surgery for pituitary tumors that release the hormone prolactin.
Why is there medicine for stomach ulcers?
Medicine is available to decrease the excess stomach acid production caused by some tumors (gastrinomas), and to reduce the risk of ulcers.
What is MEN type 1?
Multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN) type I is a disease in which one or more of the endocrine glands are overactive or forms a tumor. It is passed down through families.
Who prescribes a syringe for cancer?
This type of medication is generally prescribed by a medical oncologist, a doctor who specializes in treating cancer with medication.
How to treat a recurrent tumor?
Often the treatment plan will include the treatments described above, such as surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy, but they may be used in a different combination or given at a different pace. Your doctor may suggest clinical trials that are studying new ways to treat this type of recurrent tumor. Whichever treatment plan you choose, palliative care will be important for relieving symptoms and side effects.
What is the procedure to remove a tumor?
Surgery. Surgery is the removal of the tumor and some surrounding healthy tissue during an operation. A surgical oncologist is a doctor who specializes in cancer surgery. Completely removing the entire tumor is the standard treatment, when possible.
How is medication used to treat cancer?
Medication may be given through the bloodstream to reach cancer cells throughout the body. When a drug is given this way, it is called systemic therapy . Medication may also be given locally, which is when the medication is applied directly to the cancer or kept in a single part of the body.
Why do doctors want to do clinical trials?
Doctors want to learn whether the new treatment is safe, effective, and possibly better than the standard treatment. Clinical trials can test a new drug, a new combination of standard treatments, or new doses of standard drugs or other treatments. Clinical trials are an option to consider for treatment and care for all stages of cancer.
Can you cure a NET tumor?
Debulking surgery removes as much of the tumor as possible and may provide some relief from symptoms, but it generally does not cure a NET.
How to treat NETs?
Surgery is usually one of the first steps for treating NETs that have not spread or have spread only a little. Your doctor may remove the tumor and any affected lymph nodes nearby. Your surgeon may remove more tissue if your cancer has spread from its original location.
What is the best treatment for a tumor?
You may need treatment with hormone therapy, which can control the release of hormones your tumor makes and help stabilize its growth. Somatostatin drugs like lanreotide and octreotide can ease symptoms caused by too many hormones.
What to do if your tumor is small and growing slowly?
If your tumor is small and growing slowly, you may not need treatment. If you have to take action, surgery, drugs, and radiation are three options to destroy NETs and ease your symptoms. A team of doctors works with you to create a treatment plan. It's OK to ask questions and get a second opinion if you're unsure about the recommendations they've ...
What is the treatment for cancer?
Radiation therapy, in which high-energy beams are used to kill cancer cells. Embolization, where your doctor blocks a blood vessel to cut off a tumor's blood supply. Cryoreductive surgery and ablation, in which your doctor uses intense cold or heat to treat cancer that has spread. After surgery, you may have pain, fatigue, ...
Can chemotherapy be taken as a pill?
Chemo may be taken as pills or through intravenous (IV) drips. You may have side effects like nausea or hair loss during your treatment. Targeted treatments are newer drugs that attack the exact proteins or genes in your type of tumor. Imaging scans can help your doctor decide which ones you should use.
Can you lie still while a machine aims radiation at the area of your tumor?
You'll lie still while a machine aims radiation at the area of your tumor. Doctors can also use a "smart bomb" drug that delivers radiation directly to your tumor. You'll probably need a few treatments of any type of radiation to kill the tumor and cancer cells.
How rare is multiple endocrine neoplasia?
Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 and type 2 are rare, with each subtype affecting up to one in 30,000-35,000 people.
What is a type 2 endocrine neoplasia?
Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 is divided into three subtypes: type 2A (approximately 90% of all cases), type 2B , and familial medullary thyroid carcinoma (FMTC). Most people with MEN2 develop medullary thyroid carcinoma regardless of their subtype. Some people with this disorder also may develop a tumor in their adrenal gland known as ...
