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Biomedical subjects

C Pacsoo

Publications and source records attributed to C Pacsoo.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

A comparison between enprostil and ranitidine in the management of gastric ulceration.

In a randomly allocated, double-blind, endoscopically controlled study, 98 patients with gastric ulcers were treated with either (a synthetic prostaglandin of E2-like structure) enprostil 70 micrograms b.d. or 150 mg ranitidine b.d. The healing rates at 4, 8 and 12 weeks were enprostil 57, 91 and 94% and for ranitidine 55, 88 and 98%, respectively. Following ulcer healing, half the patients were followed for 1 year without treatment and the others were given 70 micrograms enprostil nocte. Endoscopy was repeated in both groups after 6 and 12 months or if dyspeptic symptoms returned. The recurrence rate without maintenance at 6 and 12 months, following ranitidine therapy, was 67 and 75%, and after enprostil therapy 50 and 61%, respectively. On maintenance enprostil, the recurrence rates were 28 and 40%. Forty-seven per cent of patients who completed maintenance treatment had a proven ulcer recurrence within 6 months of stopping therapy. Diarrhoea was a common side-effect of enprostil therapy. Seven patients were withdrawn because of diarrhoea or abdominal pain.

Double-Blind Method

Does Caved-S decrease the gastric ulcer relapse rate during maintenance treatment with ranitidine?

Ninety-five patients with healed gastric ulcers were treated with ranitidine 150 mg at night plus either Caved-S two tablets twice daily, or an identical placebo preparation. Treatment was continued for 2 years: the recurrence rate after 1 year was 12.5% for single therapy and 19% for combined therapy, and 30 and 40% respectively after 2 years (differences not significant). No serious side-effects were encountered, but patients found the combination therapy difficult to take, and it conferred no clinical advantage. In a 3 month follow-up after stopping maintenance therapy, 11% of the patients had a symptomatic ulcer recurrence. It is therefore recommended that elderly patients with gastric ulceration should remain on maintenance therapy for life.

Adult

Comparison between ranitidine and ranitidine plus Caved-S in the treatment of gastric ulceration.

In a double blind endoscopically controlled study, 100 patients with gastric ulcers were treated with either ranitidine or ranitidine plus Caved-S. On single therapy, 58% of ulcers were healed at four weeks, 92% at eight weeks and 96% at 12 weeks. Combination therapy did not alter the healing rate, nor improve on the control of dyspeptic symptoms. No difference in healing rate was found between good and poor drug compliance patients. This suggests that ranitidine may be equally effective at lower dosages. Thirty seven patients had developed their ulcer while taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. These patients were mainly elderly women who had a higher risk of bleeding (p = 0.006) from a large ulcer (p = 0.009).

Aged

Maintenance therapy: a two year comparison between Caved-S and cimetidine treatment in the prevention of symptomatic gastric ulcer recurrence.

Eighty two patients with an endoscopically healed gastric ulcer, were treated for two years with either Caved-S tablets, two twice daily or cimetidine 400 mg at night. During the first year, 12% (four out of 34) of the Caved-S group and 10% (four out of 41) of the cimetidine group had an ulcer recurrence. By the end of the second year, the recurrence rate was 29% (nine out of 31) in the Caved-S group, and 25% (eight out of 32) for the cimetidine group. Ulcer relapse occurred frequently in patients with either a dyspeptic history of over six months (p less than 0.05), or a past history of a gastric ulcer (p less than 0.001). Ulcers recurred rapidly after maintenance therapy; Caved-S two out of 22; cimetidine seven out of 23, within four months (NS). This study shows that long term maintenance therapy is safe and reasonably effective. The high recurrence rate after stopping treatment suggests that therapy in high risk or elderly patients should be for life.

Adult

Cimetidine: an advance in gastric ulcer treatment?

Sixty patients with endoscopically confirmed gastric ulceration took part in a single-blind trial of cimetidine 1 g daily compared with conventional treatment--namely, carbenoxolone in patients aged under 60 and Caved-(S) in those over 60. Twenty-nine patients received cimetidine: in 12 (41%) ulcer healing was complete after one month, in 26 (90%) healing was complete after two months, and all ulcers were healed after three months of treatment. In the under-60s, ulcers were healed in a greater proportion of patients given cimetidine than in those given carbenoxolone. The difference, however, was significant only at the 5% level, which owing to small numbers was of doubtful clinical validity. In the over-60s cimetidine and Caved-(S) were of similar efficacy. The 54 patients with healed ulcers are being followed up for two years; so far there have been 16 recurrences (30%). Further trials are needed, which should include maintenance treatment aimed at lowering the unacceptably high recurrence rate.

Adult

Transfer of computer-aided diagnosis of dyspepsia from one geographical area to another.

This paper reports a comparison in Airedale District General Hospital between computer-aided diagnosis of dyspepsia and endoscopy in a prospective unselected series of 165 patients. Patients were interviewed immediately before endoscopy and the findings analysed by a small desk-top computer-aided system. Each 'new' patient was compared by the computer with a group of 360 similar patients from Leeds (25 miles away). Overall, 83% of the positive lesions found at endoscopy were correctly predicted by the computer, including all but three of the 22 cases of gastric cancer. It is suggested (1) that there is little loss of accuracy in transferring the computer-aided system from one locality to another; and (2) that a computer-aided analysis of the patient interview may be of value in selecting 'high-risk' patients for intensive investigation.

Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted