Preoperative octreotide treatment of acromegaly: long-term results of a randomised controlled trial

Eur J Endocrinol. 2014 Aug;171(2):229-35. doi: 10.1530/EJE-14-0249. Epub 2014 May 27.

Abstract

Objective: Randomised studies have demonstrated a beneficial effect of pre-surgical treatment with somatostatin analogues (SSA) in acromegaly when evaluated early postoperatively. The objective of this study was to evaluate the long-term surgical cure rates.

Methods: Newly diagnosed patients were randomised to direct surgery (n=30) or 6-month pretreatment with octreotide LAR (n=32). The patients were evaluated 1 and 5 years postoperatively. Cure was defined as normal IGF1 levels and by normal IGF1 level combined with nadir GH <2 mU/l in an oral glucose tolerance test, all without additional post-operative treatment. A meta-analysis using the other published randomised study with long-term analyses on preoperative SSA treatment was performed.

Results: The proportion of patients receiving post-operative acromegaly treatment was equal in the two groups. When using the combined criteria for cure, 10/26 (38%) macroadenomas were cured in the pretreatment group compared with 6/25 (24%) in the direct surgery group 1 year postoperatively (P=0.27), and 9/22 (41%) vs 6/22 (27%) macroadenomas, respectively, 5 years postoperatively (P=0.34). In the meta-analysis, 16/45 (36%) macroadenomas were cured using combined criteria in the pretreatment group vs 8/45 (18%) in the direct surgery group after 6-12 months (P=0.06), and 15/41 (37%) vs 8/42 (19%), respectively, in the long-term (P=0.08).

Conclusion: This study does not prove a beneficial effect of SSA pre-surgical treatment, but in the meta-analysis a trend towards significance can be claimed. A potential favourable, clinically relevant response cannot be excluded.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00521300.

Publication types

  • Multicenter Study
  • Randomized Controlled Trial
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Acromegaly / drug therapy*
  • Acromegaly / surgery
  • Delayed-Action Preparations / administration & dosage
  • Humans
  • Octreotide / administration & dosage*
  • Octreotide / therapeutic use
  • Somatostatin / analogs & derivatives
  • Treatment Outcome

Substances

  • Delayed-Action Preparations
  • Somatostatin
  • Octreotide

Associated data

  • ClinicalTrials.gov/NCT00521300