Treatment of duodenitis with cimetidine: A clinical, endoscopic, and histologic study

We studied the effectiveness of cimetidine in the treatment of endoscopically diagnosed duodenitis. Sixty-nine patients with the solitary endoscopic finding of duodenitis (6% of 1,200 patients who underwent fiberoptic endoscopy of the upper gastrointestinal tract in our unit over 3 years) were studied retrospectively: a good clinical response was apparent in 45 of 69 patients treated with cimetidine (65%), and a fair response in another four (6%). In a controlled, randomized prospective study, we evaluated the effectiveness of cimetidine in duodenitis. Statistically significant improvement for the clinical and endoscopic scores was found in 10 patients treated with cimetidine (p < 0.01). Improvement in the histologic score did not reach statistical significance. No such improvement was demonstrated in seven placebo-treated patients. We believe that duodenitis is a “peptic syndrome,” has a good response to cimetidine treatment, and behaves much like duodenal ulcer disease.