Objectives: With conventional methods of endoscopic mucosal resection for early gastric cancer (EGC), proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) and H2-receptor antagonists (H2RAs) have a similar effect on preventing bleeding from artificial ulcers. An objective of this study is to investigate whether a stronger acid suppressant (i.e., PPI) more effectively prevents bleeding after the recent advanced technique of endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) for EGC.
Methods: This was a prospective randomized controlled trial performed in a referral cancer center. A total of 143 patients with EGC who underwent ESD were randomly assigned to the treatment groups. They received either rabeprazole 20 mg (PPI group) or cimetidine 800 mg (H2RA group) on the day before ESD and continued for 8 wk. The primary end point was the incidence of bleeding that was defined as hematemesis or melena that required endoscopic hemostasis and decreased the hemoglobin count by more than 2 g/dL.
Results: In baseline data, the endoscopists who performed the ESD were significantly different between the groups. Finally, 66 of 73 patients in the PPI group and 64 of 70 in the H2RA group were analyzed. Bleeding occurred in four patients in the PPI group and 11 in the H2RA group (P= 0.057). Multivariate analysis revealed that treatment with the PPI significantly reduced the risk of bleeding: adjusted hazard ratio 0.47, 95% confidence interval 0.22-0.92, P= 0.028. One delayed perforation was experienced in the H2RA group.
Conclusions: PPI therapy more effectively prevented delayed bleeding from the ulcer created after ESD than did H2RA treatment.