[Review: cimetidine: mode of action and clinical efficacy in various gastrointestinal diseases (author's transl)].

The development of the histamine-H2-receptor-antagonist cimetidine has led to a better understanding in the physiological control of gastric secretion and to a new approach in the management of various lesions of the upper gastrointestinal tract. Numerous world-wide controlled clinical trials have shown that the new drug is more efficient in diseases which are accompanied by hyperchlorhydria. This is especially true in the acute therapy and long-term prophylaxis of duodenal ulcer and in Zollinger-Ellison-syndrome. In contrast, at the present, the therapeutic benefit of cimetidine is less proven in gastric ulcer, in reflux oesophagitis and in acute hemorrhage of the upper gastrointestinal tract. Even under long-term administration no severe organic side effect occured with the drug which generally is well tolerated. Cimetidine appears as a valuable and safe agent, when the range of application is limited to defined gastrointestinal disorders.