Enhanced gastric mucosal bleeding with doses of aspirin used for prophylaxis and its reduction by ranitidine

1. We evaluated injury to the human gastric mucosa caused by low doses of aspirin and its prophylaxis by ranitidine. On two separate occasions, 30 subjects took aspirin 300 mg daily for 12 days either with or without ranitidine 150 mg, 30 min before aspirin. This dose of aspirin caused more than a 5 fold increase in gastric bleeding, from control values of 0.5 microliters 10 min‐1 (95% confidence limits 0.3‐ 0.8 microliters 10 min‐1) to 2.8 microliters 10 min‐1 (1.9‐4.1 microliters 10 min‐1, P less than 0.01) after 5 days of aspirin. Adaptation did not occur and the gastric bleeding rates remained elevated at 3.4 microliters 10 min‐1 (1.9‐6.1 microliters 10 min‐1) after 12 days of aspirin consumption (P less than 0.01). 2. Coadministration of ranitidine significantly raised intragastric pH and reduced aspirin induced bleeding to 1.5 microliters 10 min‐1 (1.0‐2.3 microliters 10 min‐1) after 5 days and 1.6 (1.0‐2.5 microliters 10 min‐ 1) after 12 days (P less than 0.05). 3. Although these values were higher than control levels our results raise the possibility that coadministration of ranitidine may reduce the incidence of peptic ulceration and gastrointestinal haemorrhage which is increasingly reported in some subjects taking low dose aspirin for vascular prophylaxis.