Digestive and liver disease : official journal of the Italian Society of Gastroenterology and the Italian Association for the Study of the Liver
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We describe the case of a patient with obscure gastrointestinal bleeding and anaemia, who required repeated transfusions for about 1 year. Because of the absence of a certain diagnosis and of a surgical approach indication, we established long-acting octreotide therapy, obtaining clinical stabilisation and interruption of the transfusional need. Withdrawal of long-acting somatostatin analogue therapy was associated with renewal of bleeding that was again successfully stopped by continuous i.v. somatostatin administration followed by re-establishment of the long-acting octreotide therapy. We suggested, in absence of surgical indications and when only palliative therapies are available, a therapeutic approach with long-term SMS analogues in patients with lower digestive bleeding of a known or unknown source.