[Evaluation of the cost of maintenance therapy (6 months) with 150 mg ranitidine vs 20 mg omeprazole vs 20 mg omeprazole every other day in duodenal ulcer]

Prevention of ulcer relapse and of its complications is a problem which remains to be solved. Our study involved 250 patients, with healed duodenal ulcer. We evaluated efficacy and costs of three different maintenance therapies: ranitidine 150 mg/day, omeprazole 20 mg/day every other day and omeprazole 20 mg/day. Six months later, we found the incidence of relapse to be 24.4% (32/131) in the once-a-day ranitidine group, 19.7% (13/66) in the day every-other-day omeprazole group, and 3.8% (2/53) in the once-a-day omeprazole group. Further, we evaluated costs relative to relapsing patients, and total costs for each treatment group. From these data, we conclude that personalized maintenance therapy with omeprazole is the most cost-effective: a dosage of 20 mg/day is extremely effective in maintaining remission, and is therefore most indicated in patients at risk; omeprazole 20 mg/day every-other-day affords better compliance, lower costs and fewer relapses with respect to standard H2-antagonist dosages.