Treatment of duodenal ulcer with cimetidine

In a small open trial nineteen patients with active duodenal ulceration shown by fibreoptic endoscopy were treated with a 6-week course of cimetidine 1.6 g daily. Seventeen had healed ulcers on repeat endoscopy at 6 weeks. Seven of these have relapsed symptomatically within a month of withdrawal of cimetidine. No statistically significant change in the haemoglobin, white-blood-cell count, urea and electrolytes, or liver-function tests was associated with treatment. Plasma-creatinine showed a very small but significant rise but the mean level remained within the normal range. The significance of this is not clear.