Protection against stress-induced acute gastric mucosal injury by free radical scavengers

This study investigated whether the free radical scavengers allopurinol (50 mg p.o. q.i.d.) and dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO, 500 mg p.o. q.i.d.) influence the incidence of stress-induced acute gastric mucosal injury in patients with pelvic fractures and hypovolaemic shock. In 177 fully evaluable patients (controln=58, allopurinoln=62, DMSOn=57), endoscopically proven stress-induced injury evolved in a significantly (p<0.01) larger number of controls relative to either group on active therapy. During the first 3 days after hospitalization, 13 controls (22%) developed the injury whereas only 2 patients in each of the allopurinol (3%) and DMSO (4%) groups had this injury. Of these cases, 8 controls (14%) and one patient in the allopurinol group (2%) deteriorated and underwent emergency surgery, however 3 of the controls (5%) died in the immediate post-operative period. The results suggest that oxygen-derived free radicals are directly implicated in stress-induced acute gastric mucosal injury and that removing them protects against this injury and its complications.