Preoperative Octreotide Treatment of Acromegaly
Preoperative Octreotide Treatment of Acromegaly
The purpose of this study is to investigate whether 6 months preoperative treatment with the
 somatostatin analogue octreotide improves the surgical outcome in patients with acromegaly.
After a baseline evaluation, patients are randomized separately for each study center in
 blocks of four directly to transsphenoidal surgery or to 6-month preoperative treatment with
 octreotide.

 To reduce the risk of gastrointestinal adverse effects in the pretreatment group, octreotide
 is initiated at a dose of 50 µg sc three times a day for the 1st week and 100 µg sc three
 times a day for the 2nd week. From the 3rd week on, the patients receive octreotide LAR
 (Novartis International AG, Basel, Switzerland) 20 mg im every 28th day for 6 months.
 Patients receive transsphenoidal surgery within 28 d of the last injection. If surgery are
 delayed, an extra octreotide LAR injection is given before surgery.
Inclusion Criteria:

 -  GH nadir during a standard 75 g OGTT >= 5.0 mmol/L.

 -  Pituitary tumor by MRI-scan.

 Exclusion Criteria:

 -  Immediate surgery indicated by usual clinical criteria.

 -  Pregnant.

 -  Known adverse effects of octreotide.

 -  Unfit for participation by any other reason.