The effects of vapreotide, a somatostatin analogue, on gastric acidity, gallbladder emptying and hormone release after 1 week of continuous subcutaneous infusion in normal subjects

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Somatostatin in this randomized controlled trial publication.

Somatostatin analogues (e.g. vapreotide) are used for treatment of acromegaly, endocrine tumours and variceal bleeding.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of continuous vapreotide administration on gastric acidity, gallbladder contraction and hormone release.

Who Took Part

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were adults, men only.

Ten healthy males participated in this randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind, crossover trial.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and crossover study.

Because people in this Somatostatin study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

As a double-blind Somatostatin study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

A placebo (an inactive look-alike) gave the Somatostatin group a baseline to be compared against.

Each person switched between Somatostatin and the comparison at some point, usually with a gap in between.

Intragastric pH was monitored on days 2 and 7.

Gallbladder volume was sonographically assessed and the maximal ejection fraction was calculated.

In addition basal and postprandial plasma levels of gastrin and cholecystokinin (CCK) were measured.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Administration, Cutaneous, Antineoplastic Agents, Cholecystokinin, Gallbladder Emptying, Gastric Acid, Gastrins and Hydrogen-Ion Concentration.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Somatostatin.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 6 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 1999 (British journal of clinical pharmacology), a journal based in England.

More context: the Somatostatin compound page, all human trials.