octreotide
Meaning of octreotide: Redesigning a hormone that survives only minutes into one lasting hours is what turned somatostatin into a usable medicine.
Definition of octreotide
Octreotide is a laboratory-made copy of somatostatin, the body's general brake on hormone release. The natural version breaks down within minutes, while octreotide is rebuilt to last for hours, which is what makes it usable as a medicine. Given by injection, it reduces the output of growth hormone, insulin, glucagon, gastrin and several other secretions.
What is it prescribed for?
| Situation | What octreotide does |
|---|---|
| Neuroendocrine tumors of the gastrointestinal tract and pancreas | Blocks release of the hormones causing flushing and watery diarrhea, and can also slow tumor growth |
| Acromegaly | Lowers growth hormone output when surgery has not controlled the pituitary tumor |
| Bleeding from swollen veins in the esophagus | Reduces blood flow through the vessels supplying the gut, lowering pressure at the bleeding point |
| High-output intestinal fistula or severe secretory diarrhea | Cuts the volume of fluid the bowel secretes |
How is it given?
Two formulations exist for different purposes. A short-acting version is injected under the skin several times a day and takes effect quickly, which makes it useful for testing whether a person responds at all and for controlling symptoms in the short term. A long-acting depot is injected into muscle at monthly intervals, releasing the drug slowly and removing the need for daily injections. Because the depot takes weeks to reach full effect, the short-acting form usually continues alongside it at the start. An oral formulation exists for acromegaly.
What are its limits and effects?
It controls hormone-driven symptoms reliably and slows progression in some neuroendocrine tumors, but it does not remove a tumor, so imaging and other treatments continue alongside it. Suppressing secretion so broadly has predictable consequences. Gallstones are common, because the drug reduces emptying of the gallbladder. Cramping, bloating and fatty stools occur because pancreatic enzyme output falls. Blood sugar can move in either direction, since insulin and glucagon are both suppressed. A functional imaging study, the octreotide scan, uses the same targeting principle in reverse, attaching a tracer to a somatostatin analog to locate tumors that carry the receptor.
Also known as
Used in a sentence
Octreotide was started to help control the episodes of flushing and diarrhea related to the tumor.
Good to know
Octreotide controls the hormonal symptoms a secreting tumor produces and can slow progression in some neuroendocrine tumors, but it does not remove the tumor, so imaging and other treatment continue alongside it.