Objective To analyze the clinical value of pituitrin in treatment of the patients with gut-derived septic shock. MethodsA prospective randomized controlled trial was conducted on the patients with gut-derived septic shock admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of our hospital from June 2013 to March 2017. The enrolled 64 patients were randomized into routine treatment group and pituitrin treatment group. According to the International Sepsis Treatment Guideline in 2012, the patients of the routine treatment group were given 50 ml normal saline containing 3 mg norepinephrine, while those from the pituitrin treatment group were given 24 U pituitrin and 48 ml normal saline through deep venous catheter. Heart rate (HR), mean arterial pressure (MAP), intra-abdominal pressure (IAP), dosage of norepinephrine, white blood cell count (WBC), platelet count (PLT), lactic acid (Lac), total bilirubin (TBIL), serum creatinine (SCr), fasting blood glucose (FBG), oxygen index (OI), acute physiology and chronic health evaluation system Ⅱ (APACHE Ⅱ) score and sequential organ failure assessment score (SOFA) at admission and 24 h after treatment were measured, and the mortality within 28 d was observed. The quantitative data were expressed as mean±standard deviation ([AKx-D]±s). The comparison between groups was conducted with Student’s t test, and that among groups was analyzed with univariate variance analysis. Enumeration data were expressed as percentage, and inter-group comparison was carried out with Chi-square test or Fisher’s exact test. ResultsThere were no significant differences in HR, MAP, IAP, WBC, PLT, Lac, TBIL, SCr, FBG, OI, dosage of norepinephrine, APACHE Ⅱ score and SOFA score before the treatment between the 2 groups (P>0.05). Compared with the baseline data, the routine treatment group had increased HR and the dosage of norepinephrine, but decreased WBC, FBG and SOFA score, while the pituitrin treatment group had reduced HR, IAP, WBC, FBG, Lac, dosage of norepinephrine and SOFA score in 24 h after treatment (P<0.05). The decreases of HR, Lac, IAP and dosage of norepinephrine were more significant in the pituitrin treatment group than the routine treatment group (P<0.05), and the former group had higher OI, though without obvious difference (P=0.066). The mortality rates within 28 d were 46.66% and 35.29% respectively in the routine treatment group and the pituitrin treatment group (P=0.355). Conclusion Combined injection of pituitrin can reduce the dosage of norepinephrine, slow HR down, decrease IAP and Lac level in the patients with gut-derived septic shock. The agent shows better clinical value for the patients.