Consensus conference. Medical treatment of peptic ulcer disease. Practice guidelines. Practice Parameters Committee of the American College of Gastroenterology
To integrate the realization that peptic ulcer most commonly reflects infection with Helicobacter pylori or use of aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) into a disease management approach. Guidelines were outlined by the author and presented for review to the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) Practice Parameters Committee, selected by the president of the ACG, and a panel of experts in peptic ulcer, selected by the committee. These guidelines were formulated following extensive review of the literature obtained by MEDLINE search and presented for detailed review and revision to unpublicized committee meetings on three occasions and to experts by mail. These recommendations are an official statement of the ACG and have been approved by the American Gastroenterological Association and the American Society for Gastroenterological Endoscopy. Firm recommendations are discriminated from reasonable suppositions pending definitive data. Since cure of H. pylori infection decreases recurrence rates and facilitates healing, antibiotic therapy is indicated for all H. pylori-infected ulcer patients. No optimal, simple antibiotic regimen has yet emerged. Simultaneous conventional ulcer therapy is recommended to facilitate symptom relief and healing. For refractory ulcers, only maximal acid inhibition offers advantage over continued conventional therapy; cure of H. pylori infection is likely to facilitate healing of refractory ulcers. Only with complicated or refractory ulcers should conventional maintenance therapy be continued, at least until successful H. pylori eradication is confirmed. A search for NSAID use is indicated for all ulcer patients. For NSAID-associated ulcers these drugs should be discontinued if possible and H. pylori, if present, should be cured.