[3 mg telenzepine nocte in the treatment of benign stomach ulcer disease: a double-blind comparative study with 300 mg ranitidine nocte].

163 patients with endoscopically proven benign gastric ulcers were randomly allocated to treatment with either telenzepine 3 mg nocte or ranitidine 300 mg nocte for up to 8 weeks in a prospective double-blind study. The two groups were similar with regard to age, sex, number of patients with ulcer recurrence, smoking habits etc. After 4 weeks treatment 51/80 patients (64%) healed on telenzepine 3 mg nocte and 49/83 patients (59%) on ranitidine 300 mg nocte. The corresponding healing rates after 8 weeks were 85% (68/80) on telenzepine and 89% (74/83) on ranitidine. At each time there was no statistical difference between the two groups. After 8 weeks of treatment 58 patients (73%) on telenzepine and 72 patients (87%) on ranitidine were totally free from stomach pain (n.s.). Other ulcer related symptoms such as fullness etc. were more rapidly relieved with ranitidine. Anticholinergic side effects occurred significantly more frequent in patients on telenzepine than in patients on ranitidine. Dry mouth was the most frequent side effect in the telenzepine group. Telenzepine 3 mg at night appears to be as good as ranitidine 300 mg at night in the healing of benign gastric ulcer disease.