PLASMA SOMATOSTATIN LEVELS IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC IDIOPATHIC INTESTINAL PSEUDOOBSTRUCTION

Objectives: Somatostatin participates in the control of gut motility, Recently, somatostatin analogs have been proposed as therapeutic agent s for chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction, although the endogenous s omatostatin pattern has never been assessed in this syndrome, We aimed to evaluate fasting and postprandial plasma somatostatin levels in pa tients with chronic idiopathic intestinal pseudo-obstruction (CDP), Me thods: We studied eight patients with CIIP and 10 healthy volunteers, Blood samples were taken at regular intervals while patients and subje cts fasted and during the 3 h after a standard solid/liquid meal (550 kcal) had been eaten, Somatostatin was measured by radioimmunoassay, R esults: Fasting somatostatin levels were normal, whereas postprandial peptide responses were markedly impaired or even absent in patients wi th CIIP. Conclusions: An impaired postprandial somatostatin response i n patients with CIIP seems to be characteristic of this heterogenous d isorder, Whether the lack of somatostatin response to a meal identifie s patients with severe gut dysmotility for whom treatment with somatos tatin analogs would be useful remains to be verified.