Dealing With Duodenal Ulcer Ranitidine 300mg at night is as effective as 150mg bid . ..

In a multicentre single-blind trial, 384 patients of mean age 45.8 years with endoscopically-confirmed symptomatic duodenal ulcer, were randomised to treatment with ranitidine, either 150mg bid (n = 176) or 300mg at night (n = 180) for 4 or 8 weeks. 28 patients withdrew from the study - 14 did not return for re-evaluation after 4 weeks' therapy and 14 were excluded because of 'protocol inaccuracies'.

After 4 and 8 weeks' treatment, complete ulcer healing was recorded in 84.1 and 95.8% of patients in the 150mg bid group, respectively, and in 81.7 and 94.8% of patients taking 300mg nightly, respectively (no significant differences). Both regimens were equally effective in alleviating ulcer related symptoms (nausea, vomiting, epigastric pain, heartburn, and day and night pain). Both treatments were well tolerated. Thus, ranitidine 300mg at night and ranitidine 150mg bid appear to be equally effective in the healing of duodenal ulcer. Arcidiacono R. Be~vestito V. Bonomo GM. Bottari M. Buscarini L. et a/. International Journal of Clmical Pharmacology. Therapy and Toxicoloy 24: 381· 384. No.7. 1986

... and pirenzipine and cimetidine prove useful for healing and maintenance 51 men and 16 women, aged 18-61 years, with endoscopically-proven duodenal ulcer randomly received

pirenzipine 50mg bid or cimetidine 400mg bid for 1 or 2 months in a double-blind study. Subsequently, 43 patients with healed ulcers entered a single-blind maintenance study, continuing on the same medication but reduced to a once-daily regimen.

In patients with healed ulcers at 4 weeks, significantly fewer cimetidine recipients took antacid tablets compared with pirenzipine-treated patients. After 8 weeks both groups had a cumulative healing rate of 85%. In the maintenance study, cumulative endoscopic recurrences were not significantly different after 1 year. Mouth dryness, blurring of vision, rash and dysuria were reported by pirenzipine recipients and headache, bitter taste in the mouth and transient diarrhoea by cimetidine-treated patients. Marks IN. Wflght JP. Bank L. GirdWood AH. Kalvafla I. et al South Afflcan Medical Journal 70: 27·30. 5 July 1986

12 INPHARMA'-' 16 Aug 1986 0156-2703/86/0802-0012/0$0100/0 © ADIS Press