Afn. Magalhaes et al., Acid suppression with ranitidine plus oral triple therapy improves ulcer healing but not Helicobacter pylori eradication, HEP-GASTRO, 45(24), 1998, pp. 2161-2164
BACKGROUND/AIMS: To evaluate whether the addition of 2 weeks of ranitidine
to a 1-week oral triple therapy (OTT) regimen improved ulcer healing and H.
pylori eradication.
METHODOLOGY: Two hundred and eleven consecutive patients with an endoscopic
diagnosis of active duodenal ulcer (DU) and a positive antrum biopsy for H
. pylori were enrolled. Those attending the Hospital Vera Cruz (Group A, n=
142) received a 14-day course of ranitidine (150mg after breakfast and dinn
er) plus a 1-week OTT, consisting of bismuth subcitrate, (240mg after the 3
meals), tetracycline (500mg, 10min before the three meals and at bedtime),
and furazolidone (200mg after breakfast and dinner). Patients from the Hos
pital das Clinicas (Group B, n=69) received the same OTT as Group A but wit
hout ranitidine. Patients underwent endoscopy again on average 40 days (ran
ge: 30-60 days) after completing therapy in order to assess ulcer healing a
nd H. pylori status.
RESULTS: Both schedules were equally efficient in eradicating H. pylori wit
h 90% (128/142) eradication in group A, and 84% (58/69) in group B (p=0.2).
In contrast, the addition of ranitidine to OTT improved ulcer healing when
compared with OTT alone (96%, 137/142, vs. 70%, 48/69; p<0.001).
CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate that the association of acid suppressi
on, obtained with 2 week ranitidine administration with OTT improved ulcer
healing but did not enhance H. pylori eradication.