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Updated: Oct 4, 2025

Acupoint Application Combined with Acupressure as an Adjunctive Therapy for Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting
Published on: June 21, 2024
Octreotide treatment of cancer chemoradiotherapy-induced diarrhoea: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
De-Jian Ma1,2, Zeng-Jun Li2, Xi-Yan Wang3
1School of Medicine and Life Sciences, University of Jinan-Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan 250062, China.
Background:
Patients receiving radiotherapy and chemotherapy have a high risk developing to an acute chemoradiotherapy-induced diarrhea (RID). The clinical efficacy of octreotide in controlling chemoradiotherapy-induced diarrhea remains controversial. We performed a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to evaluate the efficacy of octreotide for treatment the chemoradiotherapy-induced diarrhoea.
Methods:
Relevant RCTs studies assessing the effect of octreotide on clinical outcomes compared with placebo were searched in Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMBASE and Web of Science (up to December 2018). Heterogeneity was assessed with I2, and publication bias was evaluated using sensitive analysis.
Results:
Eight trials, a total of 594 participants. We found octreotide was significantly effective compared with the control group (OR =3.17; 95% CI, 1.28-7.85; P<0.0001). The overall effect of octreotide was 62.5% (220/352), while that of the control group was 49.3% (168/341). We found octreotide group was effective compared with the control group in 24, 48, and 96 h (OR =16.02; 95% CI, 3.51-73.15; P=0.0003), (OR =4.70; 95% CI, 1.65-13.42; P=0.004) and (OR =14.49; 95% CI, 6.24-33.65; P<0.00001).
Conclusions:
Octreotide is superior to conventional therapy in the duration and effectiveness for chemoradiotherapy-induced diarrhea.
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