Role of somatostatin analogues in the management of enterocutaneous fistulae

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Octreotide and Somatostatin, published as a randomized controlled trial.

The study was carried out from 01-10-1999 to 30-09-2002 in Surgical Units of Bahawal Victoria Hospital, Bahawalpur.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 33 patients were involved.

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

In this study 33 patients were distributed randomly in two groups.

In group-A, 17 patients were treated by conventional methods (nil per orum, total parenteral nutrition, antibiotics, skin and wound care and control of sepsis).

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized study.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Octreotide and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

Both groups were almost similar in terms of age, sex, anatomical location and cause of enterocutaneous fistulae.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Gastrointestinal Agents, Intestinal Fistula, Length of Stay, Octreotide, Parenteral Nutrition, Total and Somatostatin.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized study of Octreotide and Somatostatin in 33 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.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 14 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2004 (Journal of the College of Physicians and Surgeons--Pakistan : JCPSP), a journal based in Pakistan.

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