title: Ranitidine in duodenal ulcer: incidence of healing and effect of smoking.
abstract: The effect of ranitidine, a new H2-receptor antagonist, on the healing of duodenal ulcer has been assessed in a double-blind study. Fifty patients with endoscopically proven duodenal ulcer were randomly assigned to ranitidine 150 mg twice daily or placebo for 4 weeks. Endoscopic examination at this time showed that 20 of 25 patients (80%) on ranitidine healed compared to 4 of 25 patients (16%) on placebo (P less than 0.01). Smoking adversely affected the incidence of healing: 70% of nonsmokers healed compared to 30% of smokers (P less than 0.03). There were no side effects noted on ranitidine. Review at 6 months after cessation of therapy showed relapse of duodenal ulcer in 10 of 20 patients (50%) healed with ranitidine and 1 of 4 patients (20%) healed with placebo. Thus, ranitidine (300 mg/day) produces similar healing rates to those reported for cimetidine (1000 mg/day); also like cimetidine, the incidence of healing on ranitidine is adversely influenced by smoking and the relapse rate on cessation of therapy is high.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000897:Anti-Ulcer Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004381:Duodenal Ulcer / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D005663:Furans / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011899:Ranitidine; D012907:Smoking
chemical_list: D000897:Anti-Ulcer Agents; D005663:Furans; D011899:Ranitidine