[Somatostatin-analogue treatment of severe esophagitis after gastrectomy]

This article presents a case of successful treatment of severe erosive esophagitis, which developed after total gastrectomy. The patient suffered from a poorly differentiated, diffuse gastric carcinoma with subtotal gastric outlet obstruction, accompanied by Helicobacter pylori-associated type b gastritis. A few weeks after Helicobacter eradication followed by successful surgery, swallowing of nutrition became impossible due to severe erosive esophagitis. Histologically there was no evidence of tumor infiltration in this organ. After numerous unsuccessful attempts using established conventional pharmacotherapy options, the problem could be solved by daily subcutaneous somatostatin-analogue (octreotide) injections. The patient started to eat again, and endoscopically/histologically the severe inflammation significantly improved. Attempts to reduce the daily injections, undertaken by the patient, resulted in relapses within a few days. Octreotide was well tolerated by the patient.