INTRAGASTRIC DISTRIBUTION OF NONSTEROIDAL ANTIINFLAMMATORY DRUG-RELATED ULCERS IN PATIENTS WITHOUT COLLAGEN DISEASES

During the long-term administration of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory d rugs (NSALDs), approximately 3% of patients have gastric ulcers develo p in each year. Although much is known about the endoscopic characteri stics of NSAID-induced gastric ulcers in patients with rheumatoid arth ritis (RA), it is not clear where in the stomach NSAIDs induce ulcers in patients without RA. We looked at that question. During the 1-year study period, 29 patients with gastric ulcer, who had been taking NSAI Ds regularly for more than 4 weeks mainly for osteoarthritis, were ide ntified. Seventy-five patients with gastric ulcers who had not taken N SAID also were found. The sites of gastric ulcers of these two groups were quite different. The NSAID-induced ulcers mainly were found in th e gastric antrum, whereas the majority of NSAID-unrelated ulcers were in the gastric corpus. We conclude that NSAID-induced ulcers in non-RA patients mainly are formed in the gastric antrum.