The efficacy of ranitidine in children

The effect of preoperative oral ranitidine on intragastric pH and volume of aspirate was evaluated in anaesthetized children. Five groups of eight randomly assigned children were evaluated. The first group acted as control and the other groups received 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5 mg kg-1 ranitidine, respectively. The drug was administered 1-4 h preoperatively. The intragastric pH was measured by a pH electrode through an orogastric tube, and the volume of aspirate was recorded every hour. At the time of first measurement oral ranitidine was significantly effective (P less than 0.001) in increasing the pH of intragastric contents to above the safe level of 2.5 in 94% of the children. At the second measurement an hour later, it was effective in all the children. Ranitidine has no significant effect on the volume of gastric aspirate and also there was no significant difference in the effect on the pH of the various doses of ranitidine studied. Oral ranitidine at doses of 2-3.5 mg kg-1 is effective in decreasing gastric acidity in children.