Cytoprotective therapy of gastric ulcers: a controlled clinical evaluation of triletide versus carbenoxolone.

Two parallel groups, each of 10 out-patients with endoscopically confirmed benign gastric ulcer, were randomly assigned to receive either 1.5 g/day of triletide, a new tripeptide shown to increase the synthesis of gastroduodenal mucus and to antagonize thromboxane A2, or 0.3 g/day of carbenoxolone. Both drugs were given orally in 3 divided doses for 4 weeks, according to the controlled design. Endoscopy showed that a greater proportion of patients treated with triletide benefited from treatment (60%) in comparison with those who had carbenoxolone (40%), but the difference was not significant. Weekly monitoring of epigastric pain, heartburn and antacid intake showed both treatments to be effective, and triletide to be overall faster acting (p less than 0.01 for epigastric pain). Subjective complaints of possible side-reactions were not recorded with either treatment; routine physical examination, haematology and haematochemistry remained unaffected by triletide, whereas treatment with carbenoxolone was associated with a significant increase in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure and with a significant decrease (p less than 0.05) in blood potassium levels. Triletide, therefore, appeared to be an effective and well-tolerated means for the therapy of gastric ulcer, and by virtue of its significantly greater symptomatic action and greater tolerance in comparison with a standard cytoprotective treatment such as carbenoxolone, it is suggested that triletide deserves consideration in the management of peptic ulcer.