Administration of Lanreotide Autogel at Home Versus Hospital for Patients With GEP-NETs

The PREF-NET study sought to determine patients’ experience when receiving lanreotide autogel (LAN) at home versus at the hospital for those with gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs).

The study was conducted by Mohid S. Khan, PhD, MBBS, FRCP, and colleagues and published in Supportive Care in Cancer.

The multicenter, cross-sectional study included patients with GEP-NETs who were prescribed a stable dose of LAN. Patients were assigned a quantitative online survey, with selected patients undergoing 2 qualitative semistructured interviews.

The study’s primary end point was overall patient preference for LAN administration at home or the hospital. Primary end points included patient-reported opinions on experience and preference and impact on health care utilization, societal cost, activities of daily living, and health-related quality of life (HRQOL).

Of the patients included in the study, 98.7% (95% CI, 96.1-100.0) reported they preferred at-home LAN administration compared with 1.3% (95% CI, 0.0-3.9) who preferred hospital administration.

Most (60.3%) patients received LAN from a non-health care professional. A majority also experienced an increase in HRQOL after transitioning from hospital to home administration (79.5%; 95% CI, 70.5-88.4).

Results from the qualitative interviews showed that patients preferred to receive LAN at home instead of the hospital because of improved overall convenience, saved time and costs, increased comfort, decreased stress, and increased confidence in their ability to self-manage treatment.

Investigators stated that PREF-NET was the first study to investigate patients’ preference of LAN administration setting in England and Wales.

“Almost all patients preferred to receive LAN treatment at home rather than in hospital, with increased convenience and psychological benefits reported as key reasons for this preference,” the researchers wrote. “Overall, these data indicate that the decision to receive LAN at home is a valued treatment option for patients with GEP-NETs regardless of their age.”