[Prevention and therapy of gastroduodenal stress bleeding with cimetidine]

In our intensive care unit we were able to prevent almost all bleedings from stress ulcerations in patients with insufficiency of various organs (1,6%) by administering the H2-receptor blocker cimetidine in doses of 8 X 200 mg per day. However, stress ulcer bleedings occurred in 14% of those patients also suffering from a sepsis. At lower doses of cimetidine, the rate of bleeding was comparable to that encountered in patients treated with antacids, i.e. 12,5% patients with multiple organ insufficiency and 42,7% with sepsis. Cimetidine was able to stop less extensive bleedings, but did not show any therapeutic effect in case of bleeding which led to a significant fall in hemoglobin concentration.