Sucralfate, and cimetidine for gastric ulcer

Eighty consecutive patients with endoscopically proven gastric ulcer were randomly assigned to treatment with sucralfate, 1 g four times daily, or cimetidine, 200 mg three times daily and 400 mg at night. The patients were endoscoped after four and eight weeks by an examiner who was unaware of the treatment in use. Of the 40 patients assigned to each treatment group, 2 in the sucralfate and 4 in the cimetidine group were withdrawn due to the finding of gastric cancer in the biopsies. Two patients in the sucralfate and 3 patients in the cimetidine group interrupted treatment. Complete ulcer healing was found after four weeks of treatment in 17 of the 36 patients (47%) in the sucralfate and in 16 of the 33 patients (48%) in the cimetidine group. The cumulative healing rate after 8 weeks of treatment was 80% in the sucralfate group and 73% in the cimetidine group. There were no serious side effects, but it was necessary to discontinue treatment with cimetidine in two subjects because of rash in one and dizziness in the other. The results suggest that sucralfate is an effective and safe drug for the treatment of gastric ulcer and that its efficacy is equivalent to that of cimetidine.