COMPARISON OF RANITIDINE AND PANTOPRAZOLE FOR STRESS ULCER BLEEDING PROPHYLAXIS IN CRITICALLY ILL PATIENTS REQUIRING MECHANICAL VENTILATION

Objective To compare the efficacy of Ranitidine and Pantoprazole for the prevention of haemorrhage from stress ulcer among critical care patients. Methods A total of 121 critically ill patients were included in this retrospective study. The choice of pharmacologic stress ulcer prophylaxis were either Ranitidine or Pantoprazole. The primary outcome was the incidence of stress-related significant upper gastrointestinal bleeding, and the secondary outcome was the incidence of hospital acquired pneumonia (HAP). Results A total of 63 patients were given Ranitidine, and 58 patients were given Pantoprazole for stress ulcer bleeding prophylaxis. Nine patients (7.44%, 9/121) developed clinically-important upper gastrointestinal bleeding, including 5 (7.94%, 5/63) in the Ranitidine group, and 4 (6.90%,4/58) in the Pantoprazole group. The rate of HAP was 3.17% (2/63) in the Ranitidine group, and 15.52% (9/58) in the Pantoprazole group. Conclusion Ranitidine was associated with lower rates of HAP as compared with Pantoprazole, with no statistically significant difference in clinically-important gastrointestinal hemorrhage. Because of limited trial data, future well-designed and powerful randomized, clinical trials are warranted.