Cimetidine vs a combination of antacid and anticholinergic for hospitalized patients with gastric ulcer.

One hundred and eighty-five inpatients with ulcer in the gastric corpus and angle were treated with either 1 g cimetidine per day or with a combination of antacid and anticholinergic. At 2, 4, 6 and 8 weeks after entry into the study, the ulcer had healed in 3.3, 30.4, 55.4 and 87.0 per cent of patients treated with cimetidine, as compared with 0, 12.9, 51.6 and 73.1 per cent of those treated with a combination of antacid and anticholinergic (NS., p less than 0.01, NS., p less than 0.05), respectively. Factors that had a delaying effect on ulcer healing were seen more frequently in the cimetidine group. Thus, cimetidine proved to be superior to a combination of antacid and anticholinergic, for the treatment of gastric ulcer.