EVALUATION OF GASTRIC-ULCER HEALING BY LANSOPRAZOLE BY MEASUREMENT OF ULCER DIAMETER

Ninety-three patients with gastric ulcers larger than 10 mm in diameter were randomly divided into two groups. Seventy patients received lansoprazole 30 mg once daily and 23 patients received cimetidine 400 mg twice daily. Ulcer healing was assessed by measuring changes in the longitudinal diameter of the ulcer at 2, 4, and 8 weeks after the start of treatment. In the lansoprazole group, ulcer diameters became significantly smaller than those in the cimetidine group. In the lansoprazole group, ulcer diameters did not differ significantly between patients younger than 65 years of age and those 65 or older at the evaluation points. However, in the cimetidine group, ulcer diameters became much smaller in patients younger than 65 years of age than in older patients. These results suggest that the potent acid suppression afforded by lansoprazole led to effective healing of gastric ulcers even in elderly gastric ulcer patients with defective mucosal protection.