Gastrointestinal angiodysplasias are vascular anomalies that may result in transfusion-dependent anemia despite endoscopic therapy. An individual patient data meta-analysis of cohort studies suggests ...that octreotide decreases rebleeding rates, but component studies possessed a high risk of bias. We investigated the efficacy of octreotide in reducing the transfusion requirements of patients with angiodysplasia-related anemia in a clinical trial setting.
The study was designed as a multicenter, open-label, randomized controlled trial. Patients with angiodysplasia bleeding were required to have had at least 4 red blood cell (RBC) units or parental iron infusions, or both, in the year preceding randomization. Patients were allocated (1:1) to 40-mg octreotide long-acting release intramuscular every 28 days or standard of care, including endoscopic therapy. The treatment duration was 1 year. The primary outcome was the mean difference in the number of transfusion units (RBC + parental iron) between the octreotide and standard of care groups. Patients who received at least 1 octreotide injection or followed standard of care for at least 1 month were included in the intention-to-treat analyses. Analyses of covariance were used to adjust for baseline transfusion requirements and incomplete follow-up.
We enrolled 62 patients (mean age, 72 years; 32 men) from 17 Dutch hospitals in the octreotide (n = 31) and standard of care (n = 31) groups. Patients required a mean number of 20.3 (standard deviation, 15.6) transfusion units and 2.4 (standard deviation, 2.0) endoscopic procedures in the year before enrollment. The total number of transfusions was lower with octreotide (11.0; 95% confidence interval CI, 5.5–16.5) compared with standard of care (21.2; 95% CI, 15.7–26.7). Octreotide reduced the mean number of transfusion units by 10.2 (95% CI, 2.4–18.1; P = .012). Octreotide reduced the annual volume of endoscopic procedures by 0.9 (95% CI, 0.3–1.5).
Octreotide effectively reduces transfusion requirements and the need for endoscopic therapy in patients with angiodysplasia-related anemia. ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02384122.
Display omitted
Octreotide treatment was compared with standard of care in an adequately powered randomized controlled trial, which established that octreotide significantly reduces transfusion requirements and endoscopic procedures in patients with angiodysplasia-related anemia.
