Effect of tagamet therapy on the histology and the histochemistry of human gastric mucosa

ABSTRACT

Tagamet [cimetidine] is a well known drug, used in the treatment of acid-peptic diseases, like duodenal ulcer. Its side effects are numerous, but most serious one is the possibility of inducing malignancy in the gastric mucosa. The present work was done on 21 patients, known to have duodenal ulcer and receiving cimetidine therapy of 800-1000 mg/day, for variable periods of time, Another 20 normal persons were studied as controls. For both groups, the cases were subjected to upper GIT endoscopy and biopsy specimens were taken from the fundic mucosa and prepared for histological and histochemical examinations. Hyperplasia was detected in the surface epithelial cells as well as in the gastric pits epithelium, in 47.6% of the treated cases. A highly significant relationship was found between the degree of hyperplasia and the duration of treatment. As regards the histochemical data, the present work showed that the intensity of PAS reaction was correlated to the duration of cimetidine therapy. On the other hand, a significant relationship has been found between alkaline phosphate activity in surface epithelium and glandular epithelial cells, and the duration of cimetidine therapy. It was concluded that cimetidine is safe when taken for long periods of time, and there is no fear of malignancy