[Conservative therapy of acute ulcer hemorrhage using somatostatin. Pilot study]

Somatostatin (SST) infusion was used to treat severe upper intestinal hemorrhage in 10 patients with peptic ulcer disease. Bleeding ceased in all patients 4-8 h after start of infusion. In one case bleeding recurred when SST infusion was discontinued; SST was given again and the hemorrhage definitively halted. Another patient suffered a recurrence while under SST infusion and had to be operated upon. SST appears to be effective in controlling hemorrhage from peptic ulcer, though further studies are required.