Plasma somatostatin levels in patients with chronic idiopathic intestinal pseudo-obstruction

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