Prolonged bedtime treatment with H2-receptor antagonists (ranitidine and famotidine) does not affect blood alcohol levels after ethanol ingestion in male patients with duodenal ulcer.

OBJECTIVE

To verify whether a prolonged (therapeutic) treatment with ranitidine or famotidine may affect blood alcohol concentrations (BAC) in patients with duodenal ulcer (DU).

METHODS

Sixteen male patients with DU were studied. Subjects with Helicobacter pylori-associated DU did not enter the study. Patients randomly received either 300 mg ranitidine (n = 8) or 40 mg famotidine (n = 8) at bedtime for 2 months. They had a standard lunch (1:00 PM), and 0.3 g/kg of alcohol was given 15 min after the meal. BAC were measured by head-space gas chromatography up to 150 min.

RESULTS

The rate of GFPM was checked in all patients before they entered the study; we found it to be 53%, by comparing the area under the curve (AUC) of BAC after either intravenous or oral (po) administration of 0.3 g/kg ethanol. Ranitidine did not significantly modify either the mean AUCpo (5.8 +/- 1.8 vs. 6.2 +/- 1.4 mM/h, before vs. after treatment) or the peak BAC (4.6 +/- 1.1 vs. 5.3 +/- 1.7 mM) after 2 months of treatment. Famotidine failed to affect BAC in the second group of patients (AUCpo 5.0 +/- 1.4 vs. 5.6 +/- 1.7 mM/h, peak BAC 4.0 +/- 1.7 vs. 4.3 +/- 1.8 mM; before vs. after treatment).

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest that, in males with DU, prolonged treatment with ranitidine or famotidine had no effect on BAC after administration of a small dose of postprandial alcohol.