Heartburn Control Drug Works, Say Researchers
(Aug. 28, 1999) Researchers investigating treatments for heartburn found
one drug works better than another for acid suppression. Their findings
appear in the new issue of the British Medical Journal.
Investigators in Norway compared the effects of two drugs typically
given to primary care patients with heartburn. The study involved
omeprazole Prilosec(TM), a drug that reduces stomach acidity, and
cisapride Propulsid(TM), a drug that promotes faster stomach emptying.
Doctors gave the patients either of the two drugs or put them in a
control group receiving no medication then followed the patients for
eight weeks.
After four weeks, 71 percent of the patients receiving omeprazole had
adequate control of their heartburn, compared with 22 percent of
patients taking cisapride and 18 percent in the control group. The
results were the same in patients with or without esophageal reflux. In
addition, omeprazole controlled heartburn better in patients testing
positive for H. pylori, a bacteria implicated in stomach ulcers.
Furthermore, patients in the cisapride and control groups took antacids
two to three times more often than patients taking omeprazole. Patients
taking cisapride also reported experiencing more adverse side effects
than patients in the other two groups. After eight weeks, the
researchers report that patients taking cisapride reported no more
heartburn than patients in the control group.
The researchers conclude that doctors should consider omeprazole as
their first choice for treating patients with heartburn.
Source: British Medical Journal, Aug. 28, 1999; 319: 550-553
Copyright © 1999 Ivanhoe Broadcast News, Inc.
--
Judith Richards, London, Ontario, Canada
[log in to unmask]
^^^^
\ /
\ | / Today’s Research
\\ | // ...Tomorrow’s Cure
\ | /
\|/
`````
