Gastric changes in coronary-operated patients with low-dose aspirin

Low-dose aspirin is widely used in patients operated on for coronary disease as secondary prevention of coronary artery occlusion. The changes caused by aspirin in therapeutic doses to gastric mucosa are well documented, but the effect of long-term low-dose aspirin is not so well known. Forty-six volunteer coronary-operated patients with daily low-dose aspirin were interviewed postoperatively, and an upper gastrointestinal tract endoscopy was performed and biopsy specimens taken 3 months after the operation. The findings were compared with a normal population sample of 358 persons from a study previously published. There were significantly more erosions and ulcers or fresh scars in the study group than in the control population--11 of 46 patients and 24 of 358 patients, respectively. The presence of superficial gastritis was similar. Mostly, the lesions were asymptomatic. History of peptic ulcer disease, use of other ulcerogenic drugs, smoking, and alcohol consumption had no predictive value for acute lesions. In contrast, the lesions were associated with chronic superficial gastritis and Helicobacter pylori infection.