Somatostatin pretreatment enhances growth hormone (GH) responsiveness to GH-releasing hormone: a potential new diagnostic approach to GH deficiency

What Was Tested

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

Despite the availability of numerous testing procedures to evaluate GH secretion in short children, there is still controversy about the most reliable test in the diagnosis of GH deficiency.

Why It Was Studied

In the present study, the researchers used the combined SMS + GHRH test in patients with GH deficiency to validate the hypothesis that this test would better discriminate between normal short children and those with truly diminished GH secretion.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 24 children were involved.

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

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized.

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

What Was Measured

In the present study, the researchers used the combined SMS + GHRH test in patients with GH deficiency to validate the hypothesis that this test would better discriminate between normal short children and those with truly diminished GH secretion.

The subject headings attached to it are Blood Glucose, Body Height, Growth Hormone, Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone, Hormones, Insulin-Like Growth Factor I and Octreotide.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized study of Octreotide and Somatostatin in 24 children.

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 1996 (The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism), a journal based in United States.

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