Prospective randomized trial of the effect of octreotide on pancreatic juice output after pancreaticoduodenectomy in relation to histological diagnosis, duct size and leakage

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial paper looks at Octreotide in the context of pancreatitis (after the acute phase).

Octreotide is generally administered based on the surgeon's interpretation of perceived risk for pancreatic fistula at the time of pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD).

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 2011 patients were involved.

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were adults, middle-aged adults, older adults and people over 80, both men and women.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized and placebo-controlled.

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

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

Pancreatic juice output was measured after the operation using a catheter inserted into the pancreatic duct.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Cohort Studies, Gastrointestinal Agents, Octreotide, Pancreatic Fistula, Pancreatic Juice, Pancreatic Neoplasms and Pancreaticoduodenectomy.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized and placebo-controlled study of Octreotide in 2011 patients in people with pancreatitis (after the acute phase).

With several hundred people or more, it is a fairly large study for this kind of research.

Results are reported in around 7 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2013 (HPB : the official journal of the International Hepato Pancreato Biliary Association), a journal based in England.

More context: the Octreotide compound page, Pancreatitis (after the acute phase) research.