Assessment of growth hormone (GH) plasma clearance rate, half-life, and volume of distribution in acromegalic patients: the combined GH-octreotide infusion

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Octreotide in this clinical trial publication.

In acromegaly, high GH levels are primarily attributable to GH hypersecretion, but the contribution of GH clearance is still under debate and is difficult to assess.

Why It Was Studied

An octreotide sc infusion was started the night before the day of the test (2100 h) and maintained throughout the study.

On the day of the test, exogenous GH was constantly infused iv for 6 h (0900-1500 h) in order to achieve a new steady state of GH levels.

Who Took Part

The study group was 2 patients.

The age groups tagged for this paper are adults, both men and women.

In the present study, GH plasma clearance rate (PCR), half-life (t1/2), and volume of distribution (VD) were assessed in seven acromegalic patients and seven normal lean subjects, after suppression of endogenous GH release by octreotide, with use of a constant GH infusion.

What Was Measured

An octreotide sc infusion was started the night before the day of the test (2100 h) and maintained throughout the study.

On the day of the test, exogenous GH was constantly infused iv for 6 h (0900-1500 h) in order to achieve a new steady state of GH levels.

PubMed files the paper under topics including Acromegaly, Growth Hormone, Half-Life, Octreotide and Tissue Distribution.

What This Means in Plain Language

This is a clinical trial of Octreotide in 2 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 publication is from 1995 (The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism), a journal based in United States.

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