[Cimetidine in the treatment of gastric ulcer]

Twenty five patients with gastric ulcer were prospectively studied. They were admitted during acute phase and given cimetidine, 1000 mg/day for 6 weeks. They were maintained on cimetidine (up to 800 mg/day) for another 12 week period. The patients were studied with laboratory tests, endoscopy and biopsy during 4 steps of follow-up. A 76% healing rate was noted during the study. The incidence of side effects was low and drug tolerance and efficacy was shown to be good.