Healing of peptic ulcers during continuing anti-inflammatory drug therapy in rheumatoid arthritis.

To evaluate the effect of anti-inflammatory drug therapy on ulcer healing, we studied retrospectively patient records listing the dual diagnoses of rheumatoid arthritis and peptic ulcer (1953-1975). Forty-three ulcers (23 gastric and 20 duodenal) occurred in 41 subjects. Evaluation of ulcer healing was possible in 35 patients, 27 of whom had continued on anti-inflammatory drug therapy while being treated for ulcer disease and eight who did not. In 21 of the 27 patients the ulcer healed; in six the ulcer failed to heal, including one who died from gastric carcinoma. Fourteen of the 21 patients whose ulcer healed were taking both aspirin and corticosteroids; in all eight patients who stopped taking anti-inflammatory drugs, the ulcers (eight gastric, one duodenal) healed. In six patients no evaluating was possible because the outcome of ulcer therapy was unknown. The numbers of patients not studied, unlisted or unretrieved are unknown, though probably small, and while no data are available on controls drawn from the same population or on the rates of spontaneous ulcer healing and recurrence in this population, our study nevertheless establishes that ulcer healing does occur in many patients with rheumatoid arthritis despite continued treatment with salicylate, corticosteroid, or other anti-inflammatory drugs.