[Usefulness of subcutaneous or long-acting octreotide as a predictive test and in the treatment of acromegaly].

We evaluated GH, IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 concentrations in ten acromegalic patients before and after treatment with subcutaneous octreotide (OCT-sc) and long-acting octreotide (OCT-LAR). We also evaluated the acute and short-period treatment (post 21 days) with octreotide as an index to test tolerance and responsiveness to both formulations. Patients were also evaluated after 6 months of treatment with each drug. Pre-treatment fasting GH (microg/l; IFMA), GH nadir during oGTT and IGF-1 (microg/l; IRMA) levels were 13.9+/-6.3; 11.4+/-6.3; 717+/-107, respectively. Fasting GH and IGF-1 were reduced after short treatment with OCT-sc or OCT-LAR (2.9+/-1.1 and 4.4+/-1.2; 491+/-80 and 512+/-80). All parameters were also reduced after a six-month period with OCT-sc or OCT-LAR (2.8+/-0.9 and 1.9+/-0.5; 1.6+/-0.4 and 1.6+/-0.5; 583+/-107 and 515+/-83), respectively. The efficacy of the two drugs was similar. IGFBP-3 was not a good parameter during follow-up of these patients. The acute test with OCT-sc was not a valuable index to predict tolerance, however, as well as the short-period test, it could predict the long-term GH responsiveness to OCT.