Protection against aspirin-induced antral and duodenal damage with enprostil. A double-blind endoscopic study.

Prostaglandins protect against aspirin-induced damage to the gastrointestinal tract. This study tested the ability of enprostil, a synthetic analog of prostaglandin E2, given concurrently to prevent gastroduodenal injury. Twenty-four healthy subjects were randomly assigned to one of three groups. All received aspirin 650 mg q.i.d. for 5 days. One group received placebo and the other groups were given either 7 or 70 micrograms of enprostil b.i.d. for 5 days. Upper endoscopy was performed at entry and 2 h after the final dose of aspirin. Enprostil 70 micrograms b.i.d. afforded significant protection of both the antral and duodenal mucosa. The 7-micrograms dose protected only the antral mucosa. Side effects were not observed with the lower dose of enprostil. Serum salicylate levels did not differ significantly between the groups.