Misleading response of malignant gastric ulcers to cimetidine.

Four patients who apparently had benign gastric ulcer (G.U.) were treated with cimetidine. The ulcers healed and their symptoms disappeared. However, when cimetidine was stopped the symptoms recurred. Intramucosal cancer was found only at histopathological examination of the resected stomachs in two of the four patients, and in all the cases malignancy had not been detected by the initial serial biopsies and brush cytology. Relief of symptoms of malignant gastric ulcers by cimetidine may delay diagnosis and appropriae treatment.