Cisapride compared with ranitidine in the treatment of functional dyspepsia.

Objective: To compare the efficacy of the prokinetic drug cisapride and the antisecretory agent ranitidine in relieving symptoms of functional dyspepsia, as well as their effect on the recurrence of symptoms after the discontinuation of treatment.

Design: A randomized double-blind parallel-group trial of cisapride 30 mg daily and ranitidine 300 mg daily given for 2, 4 or 8 weeks, followed by a 4-week drug-free follow-up of the patients with a good or excellent response. Rescue antacid tablets were allowed only if pain was unbearable.

Esophageal motility disorders in patients with Sjögren's syndrome.

Esophageal motility was studied in 21 patients with Sjögren's syndrome, and in 25 normal volunteers, in order to record the prevalence and type of esophageal motor abnormalities. Esophageal motor abnormalities were detected in seven of the 21 patients (33.3%).

[Functional disorders of Oddi's sphincter].

The sphincter of Oddi (SO), located at a crucial anatomical site, continues to present diagnostic and therapeutic problems. A combination of the techniques of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography and manometry has permitted direct assessment of the SO function, and has opened up a new era in the study of this structure.

[Surgical therapy of reflux esophagitis in patients with normal lower esophageal sphincter pressure].

In a group of 12 patients with reflux esophagitis resistant to the medical treatment and normal LES pressure, gastric emptying and bile-gastric (B.G.) reflux (HIDA-CCK test) were determined.