A single nocturnal dose of famotidine for the treatment of duodenal ulcer: evaluation of efficacy and safety.

The efficacy and safety of a single nocturnal dose of famotidine (40 mg) was evaluated in 30 consecutive patients of duodenal ulcer (DU). Three patients were lost for follow-up and therefore were excluded. The mean age of remaining 27 patients was 34.3 (+/- 9.9) years and male to female ratio was 8:1. The mean size of the DU was 1.21 (+/- 0.79) cm. After a 4-week therapy all patients showed significant improvement and repeat endoscopy in 24 out of 27 patients (89%, 95% confidence interval; 78% to 100%) showed healed ulcer. Clinical assessment of pain relief at 4-week showed significant drop in the mean score of baseline daytime (from 1.85 to 0.13) and baseline nocturnal pain (from 1.70 to 0.10) (p less than 0.0001 and less than 0.0001, respectively). Also shown was the significant decrease in the mean gastrointestinal symptoms score from 5.89 at baseline to only 0.89 at 4-week (p less than 0.0001). Despite that all those who failed to show ulcer healing at 4-week were smokers, logistic regression analysis could not identify smoking or any other risk factors as adverse predictors of ulcer healing. None of the patients experienced significant side effects or adverse reactions. We conclude, that a single nocturnal dose of famotidine is a practical, highly effective and safe approach for the management of DU.

Campylobacter pylori in Saudi patients undergoing upper gastrointestinal endoscopy: prevalence and effect of conventional therapy.

Patients with symptoms of gastritis or peptic ulcer disease were recruited to study the prevalence of Campylobacter pylori. On the basis of the endoscopic diagnosis only, the isolation rates of the organisms in normal, gastritis or gastroduodenitis (GD), and peptic ulcer (PU) disease patients, were not significantly different among the 89 patients evaluated. However, analysis based on histopathological evaluation (in 73 out of these 89 patients) revealed a significant difference (p = 0.00016) in the isolation rate between histologically normal individuals (14%) and those with GD (89%). Also, a significant (p = 0.03) difference was observed in the C. pylori detection rate among patients with GD and those with PU disease (61%). After adjustment for multiple comparisons, only the difference in C. pylori prevalence between normal and GD patients was maintained. After conventional therapy, 23 patients who initially had GD or PU disease were submitted to re-endoscopy. In the latter group, a correlation between presence or absence of organisms and histological healing was noted. The potential pathogenesis of C. pylori in gastritis and peptic ulcer disease, and designs for future trials are discussed.

IgE level in Saudi Arabia.

IgE level was studied in Saudi patients attending the outpatient clinics or admitted into King Fahd Hospital of the University, Al-Khober, Saudi Arabia: with diseases of allergy namely bronchial asthma, allergic rhinitis and urticaria. Over the 4 years period (1982-1986) 148 patients were studied. There were 86 (58%) males and 62 (42%) females. The age distribution showed a peak in the 20-29 age group who constituted 43% of the patients seen. IgE-level was raised in 57% of patients but was within normal limits in 43%. In Saudis IgE levels are not raised in all cases presenting with diseases of allergy.

Primary hepatocellular carcinoma in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia: treatment with combination chemotherapy using 5-fluorouracil, Adriamycin and mitomycin-C.

An analysis is done of 40 evaluable patients treated with a combination of 5-Fluorouracil, adriamycin and mitomycin-C for primary hepatocellular carcinoma in Saudi Arabia. In only 5 patients (12.5%) objective partial remission was achieved. The duration of remission for responding patients was: 6, 6, 8, 12 and 20 weeks, respectively. Responders demonstrated a short survival time of 8, 8, 10, 15 and 33 weeks. The median survival time of non-responders was 8 weeks, which was not different from that of responders. An analysis of potential factors that might contribute to our poor results is presented.