Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0024523 (malabsorption)
 7,319 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

We have treated 16 acromegalic patients for up to 44 months with octreotide in varying doses. Growth hormone levels were suppressed in 14 patients with associated clinical improvement. IGF-1 levels were measured in 12 and fell into the normal range in 10. Prolactin was suppressed in six hyperprolactinaemic patients but was unaltered in normoprolactinaemic acromegalic patients. Post-prandial hyperglycaemia with impaired insulin secretion was noted in all patients, and one patient required oral hypoglycaemic agents. Octreotide did not affect thyroid function. CT scans from before and after six months of treatment demonstrated minimal tumour shrinkage in only two patients. Octreotide was well tolerated with no serious haematological or biochemical disturbance and no evidence of malabsorption. Two patients developed gallstones. Octreotide is effective in acromegaly. The development of gallstones is the only serious adverse event we have encountered.
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PMID:Long-term treatment of acromegaly with a long-acting analogue of somatostatin, octreotide. 211 18

Parenteral somatostatin has been used to suppress growth hormone secretion in acromegalic patients, but long-term treatment is hampered by its short half-life of a few minutes in the circulation. An octapeptide analogue of somatostatin (SMS 201-995) has recently been developed that has greater potency and selectivity in suppressing growth hormone than the native hormone. In this study somatostatin and somatostatin octapeptide infusions were compared in 13 patients with active acromegaly. The octapeptide had a longer duration of action in the suppression of growth hormone than native somatostatin. A twice daily dose of 100 micrograms significantly suppressed growth hormone during the day. Prolactin was not suppressed, even in hyperprolactinaemic patients, and suppression of insulin was of short duration. Two patients had diarrhoea, but this disappeared when treatment with the octapeptide was stopped. Somatostatin is known to suppress pancreatic exocrine function, and it is therefore important to look for evidence of malabsorption during long-term treatment with the octapeptide. Somatostatin octapeptide is therefore useful in the treatment of acromegaly, but evidence of malabsorption should be watched for; nonparenteral routes of administration need to be assessed.
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PMID:Somatostatin octapeptide (SMS 201-995) in the medical treatment of acromegaly. 287 97