Somatostatin in the treatment of bleeding oesophageal varices.

Somatostatin has been evaluated in the treatment of patients with bleeding varices for the past 10 years. Six controlled trials are published and a large placebo controlled trial has been reported in abstract form. From these trials it appears that somatostatin is at least as effective as vasopressin or H2-antagonists and is more effective than placebo in the control of variaceal haemorrhage. It is also remarkably free of side effects in clinical practice.