Does nimesulide induce gastric mucosal damage? "A double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial"

Background/Aims: In this study, it was aimed to examine the effect of nimes ulide, a selective inhibitor of cox-2 enzyme, to the gastric mucosa and to correlate its effect with aspirin. Methodology: This study was planned as double-blind, randomized and placebo -controlled. Mean age of voluntary persons (n=32) was 42.3+/-2.7. Divided i nto 3 groups of volunteers were given randomized placebo (n=10), aspirin (n =10) (500mg aspirin, Payer) and nimesulide (n=12) (100mg mesulid, Pfizer) w ith 50mL of water after 12 hours fasting period at 08.00 am. Gastroduodenos copy was performed to the volunteers 3 hours after each therapy. Results: Endoscopic scores of groups were; placebo: 0.20+/-0.13, aspirin: 2 .8+/-0.46, nimesulide: 1.41+/-0.51. Lesion scores both in the aspirin group when compared with nimesulide and placebo groups (P<0.00002, <0.03), and i n the nimesulide group when compared with the placebo group (P<0.01) were s ignificantly high. The positivity of Helicobacter pylori of groups was foun d; 67% in placebo, 72% in aspirin, 71% in nimesulide and there was no stati st-ically significant difference in the groups. Conclusions: It was shown that nimesulide causes significantly serious gast ric mucosal lesion when compared with placebo. The lesion score of nimesuli de was found less than aspirin. According to the findings, nimesulide shoul d be given carefully just as other analgesics due to the probability of cau sing gastric lesion.