The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 269 No 7205 p8
6 July 2002

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New England Journal of Medicine (content.nejm.org)

Lansoprazole reduces ulcer recurrence for patients on aspirin

LANSOPRAZOLE (Zoton) reduces the risk of recurrences of ulcer complications in patients taking low-dose aspirin, according to researchers from the department of medicine and surgery, University of Hong Kong.

The researchers conducted a randomised controlled trial involving 123 patients. Those entered into the study had presented with ulcer complications and had proven Helicobacter pylori infection. All patients had been receiving low-dose aspirin (less than 325mg daily) for at least one month and had a disease that required long-term low-dose aspirin therapy.

H pylori infection was eradicated with a one-week course of triple therapy (lansoprazole, amoxicillin and clarithromycin). This was followed by five weeks of ulcer treatment with 20mg famotidine twice daily. If ulcer healing was achieved and H pylori infection eradicated, patients then went on to receive trial medication — 100mg aspirin, plus either 30mg lansoprazole or placebo, once daily. After an average follow-up of 12 months the researchers found that 14.8 per cent of patients in the placebo group experienced recurrence of ulcer complications, ie, bleeding, perforation or obstruction, compared with only 1.6 per cent of patients in the lansoprazole group (P=0.008).

The study is published in The New England Journal of Medicine (2002;346:2033).