A prospective randomized trial of lafutidine vs rabeprazole on post-ESD gastric ulcers

AIM:To compare the effects of rabeprazole and lafutidine on post-endoscopic submucosal dissection(ESD) gastric ulcers.METHODS:Patients with gastric tumors indicated for ESD were prospectively studied.After ESD,all patients were treated with intravenous omeprazole for the first 3 d.Patients were then randomly assigned to oral lafutidine or rabeprazole.Ulcer size,ulcer size reduction rate,and ulcer stage were evaluated 4 wk later.Occurrence of complication was monitored throughout the 4-wk period.RESULTS:Sixty five patients were enrolled in the study,and 60 patients were subjected to the final analysis.In the lafutidine group(30 lesions in 29 patients),initial and 4-wk post-ESD ulcer sizes were 33.3 ± 9.2 and 10.5 ± 4.8 mm,respectively.In the rabeprazole group(34 lesions in 31 patients),the values were 34.7 ± 11.3 and 11.8 ± 6.7 mm,respectively.Ulcer size reduction rates in lafutidine and rabeprazole groups were 32.3% and 33.5%,respectively(P=0.974).Ulcer stage 4 wk post-ESD did not differ significantly between the two groups(P=0.868).Two cases in the rabeprazole group and no cases in the lafutidine group developed ulcer bleeding during the oral dose period,although the difference of bleeding rate between the two groups was not statistically significant(P=0.157).CONCLUSION:Lafutidine and rabeprazole have equivalent therapeutic effects on post-ESD gastric ulcers.