Somatostatin Analogs in the Gastrointestinal Tract

ABSTRACT Somatostatin analogs (SSAs) are generally more potent and have a longer in vivo half-life than somatostatin-14, which allows them to be used in many clinical settings in gastrointestinal disease. The SSAs most widely used in the gastrointestinal tract are octreotide, the first clinically useful SSA-, lanreotide and vapreotide. Other radioactively labeled SSAs have been found to be useful as imaging or therapeutic tools for somatostatin-receptor-positive tumors. SSAs have been used clinically in the treatment of gut neuroendocrine tumors, esophageal variceal bleeding, pancreatic surgery, malabsorption syndromes, and secretory diarrheas. This chapter reviews the extensive clinical results available on the use of SSAs in the gastrointestinal tract.