Objective: To investigate the effects of sandostatin in the treatment of malignant bowel obstruction(MBO).
Methods: The data of 51 patients with MBO from Aug. 1996 to June. 2004 were analyzed retrospectively. All the patients were divided into two groups: routine treatment group (n=19) and sandostatin combined with routine treatment group (n=32). Symptoms, gastrointestinal secretions, nasogastric tube(NGT) removing and effects of sandostatin on different obstructive location were observed.
Results: The symptom improvement in sandostatin group was 20/32 (63.1%) which was significantly higher than 4/19 (21.1%) in routine treatment group (P< 0.01). The average G-I secretion was (398 +/- 152) ml and (834 +/- 306) ml in sandostatin and traditional group respectively and the difference was significant (P< 0.05). No severe side and toxic effects were found during therapy.
Conclusion: Sandostatin can effectively relieve clinical symptoms and improve life quality in the bowel obstruction cases with advanced cancers.