the effect of omeprazol and ranitidine on gastric acidity in icu patients

background: icu patients especially those under mechanical ventilation or with a history of coagulation disorders are at the risk of stress ulcer development and related gi bleeding. typically h2 blockers administration showed prophylactic role to control gastric acidity. preliminary studies have shown that administration of intravenous omeperazol is effective. the object of this study was to compare the effect of oral rout administration of omeprazol with intravenous ranitidine on gastric ph. methods: in this experimental study 40 icu patients under mechanical ventilation allocated into same conditions and matched ranitidine and omeprazol groups (20 subjects in each group). first group received 50 mg intravenous ranitidine twice per day and the second group received 40 mg oral omeperazol once a day. the gastric acidity was monitored using chorning method. gastric ph was determined before administration and three times per day after drugs administration then followed for three consequent days. data was analysed using t-test and spss software. results: the mean gastric ph in the ranitidin group was 2.07±0.79 before and 2.80±0.85 after drug administration. in the omeperazol group gastric ph was 2.01±1.52 before and 3.90± 1.52 after drug administration. the oral omeperazol administration was significantly effective than intravenous ranitidine administration (p <0.005). conclusion: our data suggest that in critically ill patients oral rout administration of omeperazol is more effective than intravenous h2 blocker (ranitidine) to decrease gastric acidity and may prevent from stress ulcer.