Octreotide: A Drug Often Used in the Critical Care Setting but Not Well Understood

摘要

Somatostatin (SST), also known as somatotropin release-inhibiting factor, was first isolated from the hypothalamus and found to inhibit the secretion of growth hormone and, to a lesser extent, thyroid-stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone from the anterior pituitary. With precise identification of SST as 28- and 14-amino acid cyclic peptides (SST-28 and SST-14, respectively), SST analogs such as octreotide were synthesized.Octreotide is not uncommonly used in the pulmonary and critical care setting, where it is used mainly in patients with suspected or known variceal hemorrhage, but also those with hepatorenal syndrome (HRS) and sulfonylurea-induced hypoglycemia. Other less common indications include treatment of chylous pleural effusions, hypertrophic osteoarthropathy,