Comparative multicentric study of omeprazole versus ranitidine in the treatment of duodenal ulcer

: A total of 158 patients, aged 19-78 years and with endoscopically verified duodenal ulcer of at least 5 mm in maximum diameter were recruited. 79 patients were randomised to treatment with omeprazole, a proton-pump inhibitor of the parietal cell, and 79 patients were treated with ranitidine. This double blind study is the first clinical trial with omeprazole in Spain. Using "intention to treat" analysis there was no difference in healing rates at 2 weeks between the omeprazole group (70%) and the ranitidine group (59%) with p = 0.13. At four weeks, however, omeprazole healed significantly more patients (92%) than ranitidine (76%) with p = 0.005. Using per protocol analysis a similar result was obtained with no significant difference between omeprazole (71%) and ranitidine (63%) at two weeks (p = 0.3) but significantly greater healing on omeprazole at 4 weeks (97%) compared with ranitidine (83%) with p = 0.008. The influence of additional prognostic factors was assessed using a multivariate analysis. At two and four weeks, there was a significant effect of ulcer size on healing rate. At four weeks there was also a significant effect of treatment. Symptom relief was rapid in both treatments but the omeprazole group had significantly fewer days of pain and better patient's overall evaluation than ranitidine group. No serious adverse events were reported. In conclusion omeprazole healed significantly more duodenal ulcers than ranitidine and symptom relief was more rapid during omeprazole therapy.