[Teprenone in the treatment of chronic superficial gastritis, a multicentre study].

Teprenone (Selbex), a gastric mucosal protective drug for treatment of chronic gastritis and gastric ulcer, has recently been used in the People's Republic of China. Teprenone in the treatment of chronic superficial gastritis (CSG): a surveillance study was recently conducted in 4 major hospitals in Beijing. The study included 98 patients (teprenone group 53 patients, Merzulene-S group 45 patients) with endoscopically proven gastritis. The study showed that teprenone may relieve symptoms of CSG in 8 weeks. The effectiveness rate for flatulence was 90.9% and for epigastralgia 87.2%. The improvement rate for the chronic inflammation in histopathology was 39.6% and disappearance rate for the activity of inflammation was 13.9%. It raised significantly the aminohexose level in gastric mucosa (P < 0.05) and increased gastric mucosal blood flow in gastric antrum (P < 0.05). These data suggest that teprenone is a safe and effective gastric mucosal protective drug.