Background and aim: Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a common condition seen in primary gastroenterology practice. The present study was conducted to compare the clinical effectiveness of mosapride and teprenone in patients with FD.
Methods: Prospective clinical comparative study with random allocation of open labeled medications was performed as a multicenter trial in Japan. 1042 patients presenting symptoms of FD, either with gastric stasis (GSS) and/or epigastric pain (EPS), were enrolled. After initial endoscopic evaluation, medication either with mosapride 5 mg tid or teprenone 50 mg tid was started. Severity and frequency of GSS and EPS, health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) by the SF-36 Japanese version, and patients' compliance to medication was evaluated.
Results: Organic lesions were found in 90 patients (9%) in the 1027 patients examined by endoscopy. Among those without any specific lesions detected by endoscopy, gastrointestinal symptoms were resolved within one week after the endoscopy in 264 (28%) patients before initiating medication. 618 patients who remained symptomatic were randomized to medication either with mosapride (n = 311) or teprenone (n = 307). Two-week treatment with mosapride significantly improved GSS and EPS, while teprenone tended to improve only GSS. Mosapride also improved HR-QOL. 91% of patients treated with mosapride favored their medication, while only 52% of patients treated with teprenone favored their medication.
Conclusions: Endoscopic evaluation at patients' presentation was effective to find active lesions and to improve FD symptoms. Mosapride was more favorably accepted than teprenone by the patients with sufficient safety and efficacy.
© 2011 Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Foundation and Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.