Optimal dosage interval for depot somatostatin analogue therapy in acromegaly requires individual titration

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Octreotide and Somatostatin in this randomized controlled trial publication.

To determine the optimum intervals between depot injections of either octreotide LAR and lanreotide for the suppression of serum GH and IGF-I in patients with acromegaly.

Twenty-seven patients with acromegaly were randomly allocated to receive either three injections at 4 week intervals of octreotide LAR (n = 18) or five injections at 14 day intervals of lanreotide (n = 11); two patients participated in both arms.

Prior to the first injection, at 4 and 6 weeks after the last injection of LAR, and at 10, 14 and 21 days after the last injection of lanreotide, serum mean GH and IGF-I levels were measured.

Why It Was Studied

The recent introduction of the depot somatostatin analogues octreotide LAR and lanreotide represent major advances in the medical treatment of acromegaly.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized study.

The participants were allocated by chance, so the Octreotide group and the comparison group should start out alike.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Acromegaly, Diarrhea, Flatulence, Growth Hormone, Hormones, Insulin-Like Growth Factor I and Octreotide.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized study of Octreotide and Somatostatin.

Its findings take up roughly 7 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2000 (Clinical endocrinology), a journal based in England.

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