Omeprazole maintenance therapy prevents recurrent ulcer bleeding after surgery for duodenal ulcer.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the omeprazole maintenance therapy in patients with recurrent ulcer bleeding after surgery for duodenal ulcer.


METHODS
We studied 15 consecutive patients with recurrent ulcer bleeding after surgery for duodenal ulcer. Omeprazole (20 mg/d) maintenance therapy was given after ulcer healing. In addition to clinical follow-up, ambulatory 24-h gastric pH assay was performed before and during omeprazole therapy in those patients and controls with previous duodenal ulcer surgery but no ulcer recurrence.


RESULTS
All the 15 ulcers were healed after being treated with omeprazole (40 mg/d) for 2 mo. Eleven patients with two (1-9) episodes of recurrent ulcer bleeding completed the follow-up (43, 12-72 mo). None of them had a bleeding episode while on omeprazole. One patient discontinued the therapy and had recurrent bleeding. The median 24-h fraction time of gastric pH<4 in patients was 80, 46-95%, and was reduced to 32, 13-70% by omeprazole (P=0.002).


CONCLUSIONS
Long-term maintenance therapy with omeprazole (20 mg/day) is effective in preventing recurrent ulcer bleeding.
Demertzis
Konstantinos
K
Hepatogastroenterology Unit, 2nd Department of Internal Medicine, Attikon University General Hospital, 23 Sisini Street, 11528 Athens, Greece.
Polymeros
Dimitrios
D
Emmanuel
Theodoros
T
Triantafyllou
Konstantinos
K
Tassios
Pericles
P
Ladas
Spiros D
SD
D000368:Aged; D000897:Anti-Ulcer Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004381:Duodenal Ulcer / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000601:surgery; D005750:Gastric Juice / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009853:Omeprazole / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D010438:Peptic Ulcer Hemorrhage / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000601:surgery; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012008:Recurrence
D000897:Anti-Ulcer Agents; D009853:Omeprazole