Adriamycin therapy for advanced insulinoma.

Two patients with advanced metastatic insulinoma are presented. Both failed to respond to streptozotocin and were refractory to other forms of chemotherapy. Therapy with adriamycin (Patient No. 1) and adriamycin plus 5-fluorouracil (Patient No. 2) led to significant decreases in insulin levels or measurable disease and both patients had clinical remissions lasting 5 to 7 months. Adriamycin may be effective in patients with advanced insulinoma unresponsive to conventional chemotherapy.