[Somatostatin analogues in the treatment of bleeding GI-angiodysplasias].

Angiodysplasias account for 2-8% of GI-bleeding episodes. We describe a 75-year-old patient with a history of anaemia for 1 year before being diagnosed with multiple angiodysplasias in the GI-tract. The patient needed weekly blood transfusions until he started treatment with octreotide. After 4 months of treatment the need for transfusions had decreased dramatically and faeces was negative for blood. Treatment was switched to long-acting octreotide (Sandostatin Lar). The case illustrates the usefulness of somatostatin analogues in the treatment of bleeding GI-angiodysplasias.