Octreotide: a therapeutic option for idiopathic intracranial hypertension

What Was Tested

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

To study the effects of octreotide, a somatostatin analogue, in patients with Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension (IIH).

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 26 patients taking part.

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

The researchers performed a prospective, open-label study of the effect of Octreotide on 26 patients with symptoms and signs of IIH, investigated by brain MRI and lumbar puncture.

Patients were followed prospectively every month for three years.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a open-label study.

Nothing was hidden in this open-label Octreotide study: the patients and staff both knew the treatment.

The methods mention a period of three years.

CSF opening pressure was measured before the treatment was started and again in the first follow-up examination, on month one.

In all follow-up visits the presence of papilledema was evaluated by fundoscopy; visual fields and visual acuity were also examined.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Cerebrospinal Fluid Pressure, Gastrointestinal Agents, Headache, Octreotide, Papilledema, Pseudotumor Cerebri and Somatostatin.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is an open-label study of Octreotide and Somatostatin in 26 patients over three years.

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 9 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2007 (Neurology, neurophysiology, and neuroscience), a journal based in United States.

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