Maintenance treatment with H2 receptor antagonists for duodenal ulcer disease: toward a rational use.

Duodenal ulcer disease is a heterogenous condition characterized by episodes of recurrence and remission. Recurrences are often painful and may result in gross duodenal scarring and pyloric stenosis; bleeding and perforation can complicate the disease, requiring operative treatment and increasing mortality. Treatment should therefore maintain remission after ulcer healing, prevent possibly lethal complications, be safe and maintain efficacy over time. Maintenance treatment with H2 receptor antagonists reduces the rate of symptomatic relapse, but there is no evidence that it affects the complication rate. Tolerance develops in a subgroup of patients and seems to contribute to their poor response to long-term H2 antagonist therapy. It seems wise to prescribe maintenance treatment for 3 years following initial healing in patients with severe relapsing disease, or smokers with recurrent symptoms, and to continue it for life in selected individuals at increased risk of acute complications or of complication-related mortality.