Double-blind crossover study of ranitidine and placebo in gastro-oesophageal reflux disease

The effect of 150 mg ranitidine twice daily was compared with placebo by the double-blind crossover technique (8 weeks twice) in patients with gastro-oesophageal reflux (paired comparison in 38 patients). Ranitidine was superior to placebo with regard to effect on symptoms, improvement of oesophagitis as assessed by endoscopy and biopsy, and decrease of oesophageal acid hypersensitivity. The symptomatic response to ranitidine was, however, unsatisfactory in more than half of the cases. When symptomatic responders taking ranitidine (R) were compared with non-responders (NR), there was no difference with regard to the severity of oesophagitis or frequency of positive acid perfusion tests before or after the 8-week treatment. NR were younger and more often had endoscopic signs of incompetence of the cardia and gastric prolapse. Ranitidine is an efficient drug in patients with reflux disease. It cannot be expected that mechanical problems in the hiatal region will be influenced by ranitidine, which is probably why half the patients did not respond.