Gastric ulcer healing after treatment of endoscopic submucosal dissection in Japanese: comparison of H(2) receptor antagonist and proton pump inhibitor administration

Endoscopic submucosal dissection has made it possible to resect large lesions during a single operation. The present study was undertaken to compare the time taken for recovery from artificial ulcers after endoscopic submucosal dissection between an H(2) Receptor Antagonist treatment group and a Proton Pump Inhibitor treatment group, focusing on analysis of the time course of reduction rate in ulcer area. The powerful acid suppression by Proton Pump Inhibitor may not be needed to treat Japanese post-endoscopic submucosal dissection ulcer which usually develops after early gastric carcinoma in the mucosa of low acid secretory capacity. The study involved 60 patients with 69 artificial ulcers following endoscopic submucosal dissection for the treatment of tumors remaining in the gastric mucosa. Of all lesions, 36 were allocated to the H(2) Receptor Antagonist group and 33 to the Proton Pump Inhibitor group. Patients in both groups underwent endoscopy at 4 and 8 weeks after the start of administration. There were no significant differences between two groups and ulcer healing rates were similar in the two groups. The efficacy of H(2) Receptor Antagonists in curing this type of ulcer can thus be expected to be comparable to that of Proton Pump Inhibitors.