[Omeprazole (20 Mg Daily) Compared to Ranitidine (150 Mg Twice Daily) in the Treatment of Esophagitis Caused by Reflux. Results of a Double-blind Randomized Multicenter Trial in France and Belgium]

We report the results of a trial of omeprazole 20 mg daily versus ranitidine 150 mg b.i.d. in the short-term management of erosive or ulcerative esophagitis. The principal aim of the trial was to assess the healing rates of the esophageal lesions. The trial was conducted in 19 centers (16 in France and 3 in Belgium). The lesions of the esophageal mucosa were defined as follows: grade 2 (n = 112), round or linear erosions; grade 3 (n = 33), confluent erosions affecting the total esophageal circumference; or grade 4 (n = 11), erosions as described above plus deep ulcerations or peptic stenosis which did not need endoscopic dilatation. The main criterion was the complete healing of esophageal lesions after 4 weeks of treatment. Patients were randomly allocated to double-blind treatment with omeprazole or ranitidine. Clinical and endoscopic examinations were done on inclusion in the trial and at day 29 +/- 6, and again at day 57 +/- 6 if esophagitis was unhealed. No patient was excluded from the analysis on an "intention-to-treat" basis, and 25 patients were excluded from the "per protocol" analysis, mainly because of poor compliance with the trial protocol. The healing rate at weak 4 was 50 of 62 patients (81 p. 100) treated with omeprazole and 31 of 69 patients (45 p. 100) with ranitidine (p less than 0.001). The corresponding figures at week 8 were 58 of 61 (95 p. 100) and 40 of 61 (65 p. 100) (p less than 0.001).