Octreotide for GVHD diarreha – pro
There are only a few old studies ec=xploring the effectiveness of octreotide for GVHD induced diarrhea. A 1997 study by IMppoliti et asl 21 patients found that In this pilot study, octreotide treatment was effective in reducing the amount of diarrhea in patients with acute GVHD. The data suggest that patients receiving octreotide early in the course of the diarrhea experienced more benefit than patients with persistent diarrhea prior to receiving octreotide. The demonstrated safety and efficacy of octreotide in this patient population support further investigation of this therapeutic strategy for GVHD-induced diarrhea. The authors concluded that a randomized, controlled, clinical trial of octreotide versus loperamide for the initial treatment of GVHD-induced diarrhea is warranted.
A review article by Hamdeh et al says: ” Octreotide may be useful in select cases, particularly when it is started early on in GVHD”.
P. Ely et al, Use of a somatostatin analogue, octreotide acetate, in the management of acute gastrointestinal graft-versus-host diseae. The American Journal of Medicine Volume 90, Issue 6, June 1991, Pages 707-710
Ippoliti C at al, Octr eotide in the management of diarrhea induced by graft versus host disease.Oncol Nurs Forum. 1998 Jun;25(5):873-8.
S. Hamdeh et al, Clinical approach to diarrheal disorders in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipient World J Hematol. Feb 6, 2016; 5(1): 23-30