Unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are associated with a poor prognosis. Recently, one controlled study reported a strikingly prolonged survival of patients with HCC who were treated with octreotide. Until other randomised controlled trials become available, this multicentric retrospective study therefore assesses the outcome of HCC-patients who received octreotide treatment. 63 patients (53 males, 10 females) who had been treated with octreotide at 13 participating German centres were included in the analysis. In 54 cases liver cirrhosis was present (25 Child-Pugh A, 20 Child-Pugh B, 7 Child-Pugh C, 2 unknown). The liver disease was associated with alcohol abuse in 19 patients, alcohol and viral hepatitis in four patients, while 12 patients had only markers of past or present hepatitis B infection, 11 patients suffered of chronic hepatitis C infection, and four patients were seropositive for both hepatitis B and hepatitis C markers. The Okuda stage was stage I in 23, stage II in 33, and stage III in 7 patients. The patients initially received octreotide as a long-acting release formula (20-30 mg/month) in 43 cases or through subcutaneous injection (dose 3 x 50-3 x 300 ug/day) in the remaining cases. 11 of the patients receiving subcutaneous treatment were later converted to the long-acting release form of the drug. At three months, a partial remission was achieved in two patients, while 22 tumours showed no change and 26 tumours progressed. At six months, 11 tumours showed no change, while 15 tumours progressed. The patients' median survival was 9 months (Okuda stage I 16 months, stage II 9 months, stage III 4 months). In conclusion, octreotide treatment did not result in markedly prolonged survival in this retrospective series of 63 patients.