Sandostatin for angiodysplasia and bleeding

Angiodysplasias are usually asymptomatic but they can cause of intestinal bleedingare a more common problem in the elderly. It is notoriously difficult to treat. A number of reports suggest that itcan help to decrease bleeding. There are no supportive guidelines to my knowledge a recent review concluded: “A significant number of patients with bleeding gastrointestinal angiodysplasia respond to treatment with octreotide by reducing the need for blood products. As all the included studies had small sample sizes, multicenter randomized trials are needed to confirm these findings. However, it seems reasonable to administer octreotide especially in patients with refractory bleeding, inaccessible lesions and in patients at high risk for other interventions.”

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