Comparison of sucralfate and cimetidine in the treatment of duodenal and gastric ulcers. A multicenter study.

Sixty-three outpatients with endoscopically proven duodenal ulcer and 58 with gastric ulcer were treated under single-blind conditions with either sucralfate, 4 g daily, or with cimetidine, 1 g daily. Endoscopy was performed after 4 weeks and again after 6 weeks if the ulcer had not healed. Among the duodenal ulcer patients, 22 of 31 (71.0%) who received sucralfate and 24 of 32 (75.0%) who received cimetidine were healed after 4 weeks. After 6 weeks, the overall healing rate was 96.8% in the sucralfate group and 96.9% in the cimetidine group. Of 28 gastric ulcer patients who received sucralfate, 10 (35.7%) were healed after 4 weeks, compared with 18 of 30 (60.0%) who received cimetidine. The overall healing rates after 6 weeks were 71.4% in the sucralfate group and 83.3% in the cimetidine group. None of the differences between treatment groups was statistically significant. No serious side effects occurred with either drug. The results suggest that sucralfate and cimetidine are equally effective in the short-term treatment of peptic ulcer.