Rapid healing of gastric ulcers with lansoprazole

Background: Lansoprazole is a new proton pump inhibitor which powerfully decreases acid secretion. Methods: We compared the efficacy and short-term safety of lansoprazole against ranitidine in the healing of gastric ulcer. This was a parallel group, comparative multicentre, prospectively randomized, double-blind study which included 250 patients with gastric ulcer, 219 of whom had follow-up endoscopic data. Results: Both lansoprazole 30 mg and 60 mg daily produced significantly more rapid healing of gastric ulcer than ranitidine 300 mg nightly with healing rates after 4 weeks of 78% (P < 0.05), 84% (P < 0.01) and 61%, respectively. After 8 weeks, the corresponding healing rates were 99%, 97% and 91% (P = 0.08). Symptom relief was similar for all treatment groups, but fewer antacids were used by patients receiving lansoprazole. Sixty-nine patients experienced 91 adverse events; the incidence, pattern and severity was similar across all three treatment groups. Conclusions: Lansoprazole 30 mg and 60 mg once daily had similar efficacy. Both were superior to ranitidine 300 mg nocte in healing gastric ulcer. The short-term safety profile of lansoprazole was similar to ranitidine. These data indicate that lansoprazole should be used at a dose of 30 mg once daily for the treatment of gastric ulcers.