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In 2000, a meta-analysis showed that intravenous infusion of somatostatin (SS) or gabexate mesylate (GM) lowered the incidence of pancreatitis after endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP; Journal Watch Gastroenterology Apr 1 2000). Since then, results that contradict these meta-analysis findings have emerged from several prospective randomized trials of SS and GM. Researchers determined that data were available from 16 trials (11 randomized) of SS and from 9 trials (5 randomized) of GM, but, to limit heterogeneity in a new meta-analysis, they considered only 9 high-quality randomized controlled trials on SS and the 5 randomized trials on GM. GM and SS are not available yet in the U.S.
In the SS trials, pancreatitis occurred in…