Murphy CF, Stratford N, Docherty NG, et al. - As long-term nutritional consequences after esophageal cancer surgery are reported in recurrence-free patients, occurring in the context of an exaggerated post-prandial gut hormone response, researchers here aimed at suppressing gut hormone secretion and describing reward responses and eating behavior among post-esophagectomy patients with unintentional weight loss. In this pilot study, 8 patients (7 male, age: mean±SD 62.8±9.4 years, postoperative body weight loss: 15.5±5.8%) who were candidates for clinical treatment with long-acting Octreotide (LAR), were prospectively studied. At four weeks, no significant suppression in total post-prandial plasma GLP-1 response in correlation with receiving octreotide LAR. Improvement in post-prandial symptom burden after treatment was observed with weight remaining stable. During evaluation of high-energy or low-energy food pictures, no significant change was observe in brain reward system responses, nor in their appeal rating. Moreover, no alteration in motivation to eat nor in ad libitum food intake was observed following treatment. In this cohort, the protocol employed made characterization of the gut-brain axis and eating behavior feasible. The gut-brain pathway alterations were lacking and this may be explained by inadequate suppression of gut hormone responses 4 weeks after Octreotide LAR administration. They suggest a possible necessity for a higher dose or shorter inter-dose interval to optimize the intervention.