[Comparative efficacy of omeprazole and cimetidine in the treatment of duodenal ulcer in the acute stage. A French multicenter, controlled therapeutic trial].

Omeprazole is a proton pump inhibitor which induces a dose-dependent reduction of gastric acid secretion. To assess its efficacy in healing and alleviating the symptoms of duodenal ulcer, a randomized and double-blind study was conducted in 26 French centers comparing omeprazole 20 mg o.m. with cimetidine 400 mg b.i.d. After two weeks' treatment (285 cases), healing, assessed by endoscopy, was obtained in 64.5 p. 100 of omeprazole-treated patients, and in 44.3 p. 100 of cimetidine-treated patients (p = 0.0008). After 4 weeks treatment (232 cases), 90.1 p. 100 of omeprazole-treated patients healed, compared to 79.3 p. 100 of cimetidine-treated patients (p = 0.03). After 2 weeks treatment, there was no difference between the groups as far as nocturnal pain was concerned; however there was a significant difference in favor of omeprazole in the resolution of mild or moderate day-time pain (p = 0.01). There were no clinical or biochemical adverse events which could be ascribed to either of the treatments tested.