[Value of pepsinogen I in serum as a screening method for early detection of gastroduodenal lesions and follow-up in therapy with non-steroidal antirheumatic drugs].

Gastroduodenal lesions of the mucosa are known to be the most frequent side effect during therapy with non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). We investigated the radioimmunological determination of serum-pepsinogen I as an indicator for the quality of the gastroduodenal mucosa. A good correlation was found between the endoscopy findings of 78 patients and contemporary determinations of serum-pepsinogen. Further, a follow-up of pepsinogen I was made during the treatment of 107 patients with degenerative rheumatic diseases with eight different NSAIDs. The results recommend the determination of pepsinogen I as an indicator of gastroduodenal mucosal changes under therapy with NSAIDs; this determination gives a deciding factor for the gastrolesive potency of an NSAID.