Comparison of sucralfate and ranitidine twice daily in duodenal ulcer treatment: a multicenter randomized...

Sucralfate and ranitidine were compared in the treatment of duodenal ulcer in this multicenter, randomized, double-blind study. A total of 165 patients with endoscopically proven duodenal ulceration were included in the trial and randomized to treatment with sucralfate, 2 g b.i.d. (morning and evening with an empty stomach), or ranitidine, 150 mg twice daily. All patients were endoscopically examined after 4 and, if unhealed, 8 weeks. Of the patients considered suitable for analysis at 4 weeks, 73.5% (61 of 83) of the sucralfate group demonstrated healing of the ulcer in comparison with 63.3% (50 of 79) of the ranitidine group. At 8 weeks cumulative healing rates were 89% (74 of 83) and 84.8% (67 of 79), respectively. When smokers were considered separately, healing rates at 4 weeks were 69.2% (36 of 52) for sucralfate and 53.3% (24 of 45) for ranitidine. At 8 weeks cumulative healing rates were 92.3% (48 of 52) and 77.7% (35 of 45), respectively (p less than 0.05). Overall, there was no difference in the two groups regarding symptom relief and side effects. These results suggest that these drugs are equally effective in the short-term treatment of duodenal ulcer, although in smokers sucralfate appears to be more effective than ranitidine.