[Effects of acute octreotide infusion on renal function in patients with cirrhosis and portal hypertension]

What Was Tested

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

To evaluate the effects of acute octreotide administration on several parameters of renal function, including free water clearance, in patients with cirrhosis with or without ascites.

Why It Was Studied

Octreotide is used in the treatment of acute variceal bleeding, based on its inhibitory effects of post-prandial splanchnic hyperemia and splanchnic venoconstriction.

The consequences of these haemodynamic changes on renal circulation are not well known in cirrhotic patients.

Who Took Part

The study group was 10 patients.

PubMed indexes the participants as middle-aged adults, both men and women.

Twenty cirrhotic patients, Child-Pugh A orB, with or without ascites, with esophageal varices, normal renal function and free of medications (vasoactive drugs or diuretics) were assigned to 2 different protocols.

Protocol 1: 10 patients were randomized to receive octreotide or placebo, as a bolus followed by a continuous infusion.

How the Study Was Run

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

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

Blinding on both sides kept the patients and researchers unaware of who received Octreotide.

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

Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and renal plasma flow (PRF) were measured, in basal conditions and during the drug or placebo administration.

Protocol 2: 10 additional patients were randomized in the same way and free water clearance and urinary sodium excretion were again measured in the basal period and during the drug or placebo infusion.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Ascites, Esophageal and Gastric Varices, Gastrointestinal Agents, Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage, Glomerular Filtration Rate, Hypertension, Portal and Kidney.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Octreotide in 10 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.

Its findings take up roughly 6 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2004 (Revista medica de Chile), a journal based in Chile.

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