title: Role of octreotide in post chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy diarrhea: prophylaxis or therapy?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The clinical efficacy of octreotide in controlling chemoradiotherapy-induced diarrhea remains controversial. We conducted a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCT) comparing octreotide with placebo in the prevention or therapy of chemoradiotherapy-induced diarrhea.
  
  
  METHODS
  A computerized literature search of Medline, EMBASE, Cochrane Library and BIOSIS databases were performed for RCT comparing the use of octreotide versus placebo in the management of patients with chemoradiotherapy-induced diarrhea. The main outcome measure was the response of the diarrhea.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We included eight RCT comprising 572 patients. We found octreotide was significantly effective compared with the placebo (OR, 4.9; 95%, 1.58-15.2).The overall effect of octreotide was 69% (204/294), while that of placebo was 54% (149/278). When divided into prophylactic and therapeutic subgroups, the prophylactic subgroup had an OR of 2.11 (95% CI, 0.51-2.89) for chemoradiotherapy-induced diarrhea and the therapeutic subgroup had an OR of 7.30 (95% CI, 4.09-13.04).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In chemoradiotherapy-induced diarrhea, octreotide is best used as a therapeutic rather than a prophylactic agent against diarrhea.
authors.affiliation: Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, the Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Ju-Xian
authors.initials: JX
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D018931:Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D059248:Chemoradiotherapy / Q000009:adverse effects; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000628:therapy*; D005765:Gastrointestinal Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D015282:Octreotide / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
chemical_list: D018931:Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal; D005765:Gastrointestinal Agents; D015282:Octreotide
keywords: Chemo-radiotherapy; diarrhea; meta-analysis; octreotide; prophylaxis