Effect of the somatostatin analogue lanreotide on meal-stimulated portal blood flow in patients with liver cirrhosis

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Somatostatin and Lanreotide, published as a clinical trial, phase ii.

To date, similar data in patients with liver cirrhosis have not been available.

The researchers have examined the effect of lanreotide compared with placebo on meal-stimulated portal blood flow in patients with liver cirrhosis using Doppler ultrasound.

Who Took Part

The study group was 20 patients.

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were middle-aged adults, both men and women.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a double-blind, placebo-controlled and parallel-group study.

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

The comparison arm used a placebo, so changes seen with Somatostatin could be set against what happens without it.

Groups ran in parallel: each of the patients stayed in one arm throughout.

Blood pressure, heart rate and portal vein blood flow (PVF, ml/min, Doppler technique) were determined at regular intervals.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Food, Gastrointestinal Agents, Hypertension, Portal, Liver Cirrhosis, Peptides, Cyclic, Portal System and Somatostatin.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a double-blind, placebo-controlled and parallel-group study of Somatostatin and Lanreotide in 20 patients.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

Results are reported in around 4 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2002 (Digestion), a journal based in Switzerland.

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