[I.v. famotidine versus i.v. ranitidine: intragastric pH behavior in surgical intensive care patients]

20 patients of a surgical intensive care unit were treated in a randomised double-blind fashion with i.v. famotidine 10 mg and i.v. ranitidine every 6-12 hours for maximally seven days. Both groups were comparable with respect to the grade of risk of stress-induced bleeding. With both H2-blockers (ranitidine and famotidine) the intragastric pH could be increased to 5.0 and more and kept constant at this level over the whole test period. The mean daily doses required were 22.3 mg for famotidine and 154.3 mg for ranitidine. Stress-induced bleeding as well as adverse reactions could not be observed in both treatment groups.