Somatostatin Analogues for Acute Bleeding Oesophageal Varices

Background: Somatostatin and its derivatives are often used for emergency treatment of bleeding oesophageal varices in patients with cirrhosis of the liver.

Objectives: To study whether somatostatin or analogues improve survival or reduce the need for blood transfusions in patients with bleeding oesophageal varices.

Search Strategy: MEDLINE and The Cochrane Library were searched; last search in Febr 2004. Reference lists of articles, contacted authors.

Selection Criteria: All randomised trials comparing somatostatin or analogues with placebo or no treatment in patients suspected of acute or recent bleeding from oesophageal varices.

Data Collection And Analysis: The effect variables extracted were: mortality, blood transfusions, use of balloon tamponade, initial haemostasis and rebleeding. Intention-to-treat analyses including all randomised patients were conducted; a random effects analysis was preferred if there was significant heterogeneity between the trials (P < 0.10). The trials were divided in two quality groups; the better trials had concealed allocation of patients and were double-blind.

Main Results: We included 20 trials (2518 patients). The drugs did not reduce mortality significantly (relative risk 0.96, 95% confidence interval 0.74 to 1.24, for the high-quality trials, and 0.79 for low-quality trials). Units of blood transfused were 0.7 (0.3 to 1.2) less with drugs in the high-quality trials and 1.5 (0.9 to 2.0) less in the low-quality trials. Number of patients failing initial haemostasis was reduced, relative risk 0.67 (0.53 to 0.86). Number of patients with rebleeding was not significantly reduced for the high-quality trials, relative risk 0.82 (0.45 to 1.49) while it was substantially reduced in the low-quality trials, relative risk 0.35 (0.18 to 0.67). Use of balloon tamponade was rarely reported.

Authors' Conclusions: The effect corresponded to one half unit of blood saved per patient. It is doubtful whether this effect is worthwhile. The findings do not suggest a need for further placebo-controlled studies of the type reviewed here. A large placebo controlled trial enrolling thousands of patients is needed if one wishes to rule out the possibility that a worthwhile effect on mortality may have been overlooked.