Endoscopic findings after antacid, cimetidine and placebo for peptic ulcer--importance of staging the lesions.

Ninety four adult outpatients entered a randomized trial in which 30 patients were treated openly with antacid hourly and 64 patients with a double-blind regimen of either cimetidine (1 g/day) or placebo. After 4 weeks, 66.3% of the antacid-treated patients, 56.2% of the cimetidine-treated patients and 9.4% of the placebo patients showed ulcer healing. The difference between cimetidine and antacid was not statistically significant. The low percentage in the placebo group as compared to other trials may be attributed to the avoidance of supplementary antacid in this group and or to the criterion of staging the lesions both for entry into study and for evaluating the results.