Treatment of migraine attacks with a long-acting somatostatin analogue (octreotide, SMS 201-995)

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Octreotide and Somatostatin in the context of migraine in this randomized controlled trial publication.

Long-acting somatostatin analogue (SMS 201-995) inhibits serotonin, bradykinin, prostaglandins, substance P, and vasoactive intestinal peptide, which may be involved in migraine.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 995 patients taking part.

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

Patients experiencing migraine attacks were evaluated clinically.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and parallel-group study.

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

Neither the patients nor the staff measuring them knew who was on Octreotide, so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

A placebo (an inactive look-alike) gave the Octreotide group a baseline to be compared against.

Groups ran in parallel: each of the patients stayed in one arm throughout.

What Was Measured

Long-acting somatostatin analogue (SMS 201-995) inhibits serotonin, bradykinin, prostaglandins, substance P, and vasoactive intestinal peptide, which may be involved in migraine.

The subject headings attached to it are Hormones, Migraine Disorders, Octreotide and Somatostatin.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Octreotide and Somatostatin in 995 patients in people with migraine.

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

The publication is from 1997 (Cephalalgia : an international journal of headache), a journal based in England.

More context: the Octreotide compound page and the Somatostatin compound page, Migraine research.