The role of Sandostatin® in acromegaly

Body composition in active acromegaly during treatment with octreotide: a double‐blind, placebo‐controlled cross‐over study

“…In the present study, two of our 12 patients (17%) showed no decrease in GH-levels during active therapy. This is in accord with previous studies, where biochemical and clinical non-respondence to octreotide seems to be 15-20% of patients (Sassolas, 1992;Frohman, 1991;Waters el al. 1990;Melmed, 1990).…”

“…The somatostatin analogue octreotide is a potent inhibitor of GH secretion and has been shown to induce biochemical and clinical remission. This drug ameliorates symptoms of acromegaly and is suitable for long-term clinical use (Sassolas, 1992).…”

Incidence and morbidity of cholelithiasis in patients receiving chronic octreotide for metastatic carcinoid and malignant islet cell tumors

“…Four patients (9.1%) had only gallbladder sludge documented. As mentioned earlier, prior studies on the incidence of gallstones in acromegalics varied from approximately 15%, which is the expected proportion that should be found in a normal population,14, 18, 31 to 50‐60% 2, 15, 19, 32. In the previously mentioned review by Dowling et al, the author reviewed ten reports of cholelithiasis in acromegalics receiving octreotide therapy, and calculated the rate of new gallstone formation, without factoring the dose or length of treatment, to be 29% 23.…”

“…Therefore, the same side effect from supraphysiologic doses of a long‐acting analogue of this naturally occurring 14‐amino acid peptide could be predicted. In most of the case reports, cohort reports, and clinical trials of octreotide reported to date, cholelithiasis has been a major side effect of therapy 1, 2, 13‐17…”

Suppression of GH secretion in pituitary gigantism by continuous subcutaneous octreotide infusion in a pubertal boy

“…In some patients, however, the effect of a single s.c. injection does not last for the whole 8 h period, but GH levels start to rise 2-3 h before the next injection (5,11). Continuous s.c. infusion has been suggested as being more effective than incremental s.c. injections totalling the same dose (5,6,12). Continuous s.c. infusion delivers the drug without interruption, and also allows the adjustment of the dose differentially for different hours of the day, which may be desirable in childhood and especially during puberty to control nocturnal GH peaks.…”