Persistence of gastric ulcers caused by plain aspirin or nonsteroidal antiinflammatory agents in patients treated with a combination of cimetidine, antacids, and enteric-coated aspirin.

Twenty-three patients chronically ingesting plain aspirin or nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, who had endoscopically proven solitary or multiple gastric ulcers, were treated for eight weeks with cimetidine and antacids. Plain aspirin and nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs were discontinued in all patients. Seven patients received enteric-coated aspirin throughout the treatment phase and continuously for the entire study period (2.5-12 months). The remainder of patients (N = 16) did not receive enteric-coated aspirin. An endoscopy was performed to assess ulcer healing. None of seven patients receiving enteric-coated aspirin had complete healing of their ulcer(s) while 15 of 16 patients not receiving enteric-coated aspirin demonstrated complete healing of their ulcer(s) (P less than 0.001). An eight-week course of cimetidine and antacids is ineffective in completely healing gastric ulcers caused by plain aspirin or nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs while enteric-coated aspirin is continued.