Proceedings of the discussion, "Tolerability and safety of Sandostatin"

Side effects of octreotide may be local, biochemical, gastroenterological, or endocrinological. Local pain at the injection site occurs frequently, but rarely lasts more than 15 minutes and often resolves with continued therapy and may be improved if the vial is warmed prior to injection. No long-term hematological or biochemical abnormalities have been described. Despite initial diarrhea in some patients, no change in circulating fat-soluble vitamins has been consistently reported. Antibodies to octreotide have been described, but are rare. Abdominal pain or diarrhea can occur at the beginning of therapy. These symptoms rarely persist and are minimal if the injections are timed between meals, but this may increase the incidence of gallstones. Gallstones occur with increased frequency. Gastritis has been described as being an invariable consequence of long-term treatment with octreotide. We have found the incidence to be increased in patients on octreotide, but this is not invariable. Hypoglycemia may be exacerbated in some patients with insulinoma because of glucagon suppression. Small numbers of patients on octreotide for acromegaly have developed hypoglycemic. Conversely, carbohydrate tolerance may temporarily worsen because of insulin suppression and rarely oral hypoglycemia drug therapy may become necessary. Most frequently, carbohydrate tolerance does not deteriorate. In some patients with acromegaly, pituitary tumor size may continue to increase despite continued therapy. Last, there is the theoretical risk of addiction to a compound which may act through opiate receptors and considerably alleviates headache in some patients with pituitary tumor. Overall, despite the multiplicity of theoretical side effects, the majority of patients tolerate octreotide well, with no serious untoward effects.