Prevalence of gastritis in patients with acromegaly: untreated and during treatment with octreotide.

OBJECTIVE

It has previously been suggested that acromegalic patients treated with the somatostatin analogue octreotide invariably have chronic gastritis. We have examined the prevalence of gastritis in a large group of acromegalic patients, untreated and during treatment with octreotide.

DESIGN

We studied three groups of acromegalic patients: (A) untreated; (B) octreotide-treated; (C) a subgroup of these studied both before and during octreotide therapy.

PATIENTS

Forty-eight patients, grouped as above, with active acromegaly were examined for the presence of gastritis.

MEASUREMENTS

Gastroscopy and histological examination of gastric biopsies for the presence of gastritis and Helicobacter organisms were undertaken. The principal outcome was quantification of the prevalence of gastritis in the various study groups.

RESULTS

Group A: 10 of the 33 patients (30%) had gastritis before any therapy with octreotide. Group B: 17 of 36 patients (47%) on octreotide treatment for 6-59 months (mean 20.5) had gastritis, and this was present in five out of the sub-group of eight patients (62%) treated for over 3 years. Group C: three of 21 patients (14%) developed gastritis during treatment with octreotide for between 6 and 23 months (mean 12.4). There was a highly significant association between the presence of gastritis and the presence of Helicobacter pylori organisms.

CONCLUSIONS

Octreotide therapy of acromegaly may predispose to the development of gastritis, but this remains statistically unproven. Certainly, gastritis is not an invariable consequence of octreotide therapy, even after prolonged periods of treatment. The presence of gastritis is associated with H. pylori infection.