Clinical relevance of mucosal protection

An inquiry was made among 70 of the 76 participants of an international symposium entitled 'Future Directions in Peptic Ulcer Research', held in Bellagio, Italy, in April 1986. There was almost unanimous agreement that research in the development of protective drugs should be intensified. The participants felt that in future studies the prevention of ulcer relapse, concomitant administration with potentially ulcerogenic drugs, prevention of stress ulceration, and treatment of ulcer hemorrhage should be emphasized rather than the healing of uncomplicated ulcers. They were not generally satisfied with the performance of available prostaglandin analogues in ulcer treatment. The moderate commercial success of sucralfate was attributed mainly to the complicated mode of intake, but also to the unknown mechanism of action of this substance. It was felt likely that antacids have a clinically relevant protective effect on gastroduodenal mucosa.