Food Intake and Gut Hormones in Patients Who Have Undergone Upper Gastrointestinal Surgery for Cancer

Improvements to treatment strategies for patients upper gastrointestinal cancers have produced an increasing population of people who remain free from disease recurrence in the long term. Weight loss and nutritional problems are common among patients who attain long-term remission and cure after surgery for upper gastrointestinal cancers. However, the mechanisms underlying these problems are not well understood. In this study the investigators aim to determine whether reduced food intake after upper gastrointestinal surgery is caused by early satiety related to exaggerated post-prandial gut hormone responses. This is a randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled, crossover study of the effect of 100μg octreotide SC on ad libitum food intake in patients free from complications or recurrence at least one year post-oesophagectomy, gastrectomy or pancreaticoduodenectomy. A comparator group of age, weight and gender matched subjects will be studied concurrently, and caloric intake and subjective symptom scores after administration of octreotide versus placebo among surgical and comparator subjects will be assessed.