A somatostatin analog improves tilt table tolerance by decreasing splanchnic vascular conductance.

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Octreotide in this randomized controlled trial publication.

A repeated-measures analysis of variance was used to compare changes from baseline with respect to sex and condition.

Why It Was Studied

In randomized, double-blind, crossover trials, hemodynamic variables were collected in 14 women and 16 men during baseline, 70° head-up tilt (HUT), and recovery.

Additionally, SpVC and non-SpVC were lower during HUT.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 14 women taking part.

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

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and crossover.

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

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

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

In the crossover set-up each of the women took both Octreotide and the comparison in turn, acting as their own control.

Splanchnic hemodynamics and tilt table tolerance were assessed after an infusion of placebo or octreotide acetate, a somatostatin analog whose vascular effects are largely confined to the splanchnic circulation.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Analysis of Variance, Blood Pressure, Heart Rate, Hemodynamics, Infusions, Parenteral, Kaplan-Meier Estimate and Octreotide.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Octreotide in 14 women.

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 publication is from 2012 (Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985)), a journal based in United States.

More context: the related Octreotide library page, all human trials.