NEXIUM (Esomeprazole) Drug is Effective in Patients With Zollinger-Ellison Syndrome
Zollinger-Ellison syndrome (ZES) is a rare disease, affecting fewer than three out of every million Americans (less than 1,000 people) but it is a serious chronic condition characterized by the development of a tumor or tumors. ZES is chronic, difficult to treat, and may be life-threatening. The symptoms of ZES may be abdominal pain, diarrhea and increased fat in the stools and even recurrent gastric and duodenal ulcers.
A new 12-month research was carried out to reveal that the proton pump inhibitor (PPI) NEXIUM(R) (esomeprazole magnesium) is able to maintain normal gastric (stomach) acid levels in patients with Zollinger- Ellison syndrome or idiopathic gastric acid hypersecretion (IGH).
The study involved twenty-one patients with ZES or idiopathic (of unknown cause) gastric acid hypersecretion (IGH). They were prescribed to receive one of several doses of Esomeprazole tablets, depending on the degree of their acid output and symptoms at various times throughout the trial. At day 10 they received a gastric analysis to measure the amount of acid secreted by the stomach and an endoscopy to check for the presence of gastric or duodenal ulcers and/or erosive esophagitis.
Investigators could increase the dose of generic Nexium throughout the trial.
Further, 18 of 20 patients whose acid was controlled by day 10 maintained control for the duration of the study. No patients showed evidence of erosive esophagitis or gastric or duodenal ulcers at 12 months.
Results of the effects of Esomeprazole medication were presented today at the annual Digestive Disease Week(R) (DDW(R)). This kind of gerd medications is assigned for NSAID-associated gastric ulcers in as-risk patients.
The lead investigator David C. Metz, MD, Professor of Medicine, and the Director of the Acid-Peptic Program, Division of Gastroenterology, University of Pennsylvania Health System said that the study indicated that NEXIUM drug provided early, effective and sustained acid suppression to help patients with Zollinger-Ellison syndrome. Esomeprazole was generally well tolerated at all doses.
