Objectives: This paper aimed at evaluating the comparative efficacy of lansoprazole and omeprazole in reducing gastric acid secretion in patients suffering from Zollinger-Ellison syndrome.
Methods: Nine patients with non-resected gastrinoma(s) an previously well controlled by omeprazole (mean dosage 75 +/- 12.4 (SEM) mg/day; extremes: 20-160 mg/day) underwent 24-hour intragastric pH-metry, baseline acid output before next dosing and serum gastrin dosages, receiving their usual therapy and thereafter lansoprazole at a weight equivalent posology (mean dosage 81.6 +/- 12.5 (SEM) mg/day; extremes: 30-165 mg/day).
Results: Lansoprazole maintained intragastric pH and basal acid output at therapeutic levels, but a discrete reacidification, that deserves confirmation on a larger group of patients, was observed between the meals.
Conclusions: The possible long-term benefit of this phenomenon, especially on gastrinemia and the fundic ECL-cells density and gastric bacterial content, remains to be evaluated.