Strategies for preventing aspirin-induced gastric bleeding.

Prostaglandins protect the gastric mucosa in animals, but the evidence of an effect independent of pH changes in man is not overwhelming. Gastrointestinal bleeding because of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs is a major clinical problem, which we have investigated in a model system measuring bleeding rates caused by short-term administration of aspirin. Of the various strategies tested, only those that elevated intra-gastric pH reduced aspirin-induced bleeding.