Antacid vs placebo in hospitalized gastric ulcer patients: A controlled therapeutic study

Abstract

Antacids are widely accepted as agents that promote healing and relieve pain of gastric ulcer. Well-controlled studies designed to test this belief are few. 28 patients with endoscopically proven gastric ulcer were treated for 3 weeks in hospital, 13 receiving a liquid placebo and 15 an antacid. All were followed by endoscopy to complete healing or until surgery was performed. 10 patients healed satisfactorily in the placebo group and 11 in the antacid group. All patients were free of pain during their hospitalization. From this study it is concluded that in gastric ulcer patients hospitalized for 3 weeks, the rate of healing of the ulcer and the relief of pain is not influenced by treatment with a standard antacid preparation.

Cultural Variations in the Placebo Effect: Ulcers, Anxiety, and Blood Pressure

“…For many years, the primary treatment option for ulcers was antacids. The effectiveness of antacids is unclear; some studies have shown some effectiveness (Lublin et al 1985), and others have not (Butler and Gersh 1975), but this treatment was all that was available, and, at least for some patients, antacids reduced pain. Refractory cases (then as now) were treated surgically.…”

Double-blind clinical trial on gastroduodenal ulcer healing with prostaglandin E2 analogues.

“…Gaisberg et al (1975), carrying out a second endoscopy after four weeks of similar treatment, observed that 45 % of the ulcers were healed. Butler and Gersh (1975) found that three-quarters of gastric ulcers healed after three weeks' treatment in patients admitted to hospital; this ratio was similar in patients given antacids and in those given placebo. We decided to repeat endoscopy every week, and we chose two weeks as a standard treatment time, hoping that very effective control by m-PGE2 of the aggressive peptic factors might allow the crater to disappear before two weeks.…”