Proton pump inhibitors – are they truly safe?

Proton pump inhibitors: are they overutilised in clinical practice and do they pose significant risk?

Proton pump inhibitors are highly effective acid suppressants with decades of use highlighting positive outcomes in millions of patients worldwide, and they offer minimal risk of adverse events. PPIs are considered overutilised when prescribed without an appropriate indication, when patients are left on them 'indefinitely' without appropriate indications and when they are continued after being ...

Proton pump inhibitors are not antacids!

Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are among the most commonly prescribed drugs in clinical practice. Since the introduction of these potent acid-suppressing agents in the late 80s, they were listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most prescribed in human history. Yet, to be effective in inhibiting the proton pump enzyme (H+/K+ ATPase) in the parietal cells, these drugs should be taken ...

Proton Pump Inhibitors: Omeprazole

Oral Proton Pump Inhibitors

There is currently a lack of evidence to suggest superior clinical efficacy of one oral proton pump inhibitor over any other. Proton pump inhibitors display similar doseresponse relationships with similar potencies and efficacies at the equivalent dose. The decision to select one proton pump inhibitor over another is likely to be based on the agents’ licensed indication, patient tolerability an...

Intravenous proton pump inhibitors.

Intravenous (IV) administration of a proton pump inhibitor (PPI) is a faster way to achieve gastric acid suppression than oral administration of the same agent. Peak suppression after IV administration occurs within hours, compared with several days later after oral administration. Thus the IV route of administration offers a faster onset of gastric suppression, achievement of intragastric pH c...