COMPARISON OF THE EFFECTS OF SINGLE MORNING AND SINGLE BEDTIME DOSES OF FAMOTIDINE ON INTRAGASTRIC ACIDITY IN PATIENTS WITH GASTRIC-ULCER

The effects of single morning and single bedtime doses of famotidine o n intragastric acidity were studied by 24-h intragastric pH monitoring in 16 patients with gastric ulcer. The patients were randomly allocat ed to the following regimen: one group (n = 8) received 40 mg famotidi ne at 8:30 AM and another group (n = 8) received the same dose at 10 P M. The morning group showed significant inhibition of gastric acidity during the 24-h and daytime measurements, compared to those of the bed time group (p < 0.05 in 24 h, p < 0.01 in daytime). Conversely, the be dtime group showed a significant inhibition of gastric acidity during the nocturnal period compared to the morning group (p < 0.01). These r esults indicate that the relative importance of suppression of gastric acidity on the gastric ulcer healing process should be evaluated in a clinical trial.