Between 1993/1994 and 2000, among patients with acute upper GI bleeding, the incidence rate of upper GI bleeding significantly decreased, but no improvement was seen in the risk of rebleeding or mortality in these patients. The incidence rate of ulcer bleeding remained stable. Prevention of ulcer bleeding is important.

Background: Acute left-sided colonic obstruction is most often caused by malignancy and the surgical treatment is associated with a high mortality and morbidity rate. Moreover, these operated patients end up with a temporary or permanent stoma. Initial insertion of an enteral stent to decompress the obstructed colon, allowing for surgery to be performed electively, is gaining popularity. In uncontrolled studies stent placement before elective surgery has been suggested to decrease mortality, morbidity and number of colostomies. However stent perforation can lead to peritoneal tumor spill, changing a potentially curable disease in an incurable one. Therefore it is of

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The severity of gastric and duodenal mucosal injury in critically ill patients during mechanical ventilation is significantly correlated with the presence of H. pylori infection.

There are important differences in management of peptic ulcer hemorrhage between gastroenterologists and internists in the Netherlands. Management is only partly in accordance with evidence-based medicine.

Aim:To compare the efficacy of ranitidine bismuth citrate plus clarithromycin (RBC–C) vs. omeprazole plus amoxycillin (OME–AMO) in the cure of Helicobacter pylori infection.Methods:In this double‐blind, multicentre, parallel‐group study 122 H. pylori‐positive patients with active duodenal ulcer or gastritis, with confirmed history of duodenal ulcer, were randomized to treatment with ranitidine bismuth citrate 400 mg b.d. plus clarithromycin 500 mg b.d. or omeprazole 20 mg b.d. plus amoxycillin 1000 mg b.d. for 14 days, followed by 14 days of ranitidine bismuth citrate 400 mg b.d. or omeprazole 20 mg once daily, respectively, to facilitate ulcer healing. Endoscopy was carried out at the start of the study and 28 days after the end of treatment. At each endoscopy four biopsies were obtained from the antrum and four biopsies from the corpus, for rapid urease test, histology and culture. H. pylori infection was defined as a positive urease test, confirmed by histology or culture. Cure of H. pylori infection was defined as negative urease test, histology or culture from both sites.Results:Per‐protocol, all‐patients‐treated and intention‐to‐treat cure rates (95% confidence interval) were, respectively, 90% (81–89%), 90% (82–89%) and 84% (74–93%) for ranitidine bismuth citrate plus clarithromycin, and 39% (27–54%), 44% (31–57%) and 41% (29–53%) for omeprazole plus amoxycillin, P < 0.00001. Both regimens were well tolerated. Eight patients were lost to follow‐up, for lack of efficacy (one patient), adverse events (three patients) or refusal of second endoscopy (four patients).Conclusion:Ranitidine bismuth citrate 400 mg b.d. with clarithromycin 500 mg b.d. is superior to omeprazole 20 mg b.d. with amoxycillin 1000 mg b.d. Ranitidine bismuth citrate with clarithromycin is the first dual therapy with high cure rates and good tolerance, and is easy to take. It may therefore prove a suitable first‐line treatment in H. pylori infection.

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