Risks of Therapeutic Achlorhydria

Abstract

An analysis has been made of the potential risks involved in the clinical use of the new, powerful gastric secretory inhibitors. These drugs are undoubted carcinogens in animals, although the mechanism underlying the carcinogenic effect has not yet been defined. Prediction of potential human risk depends on whether the results of carcinogenic studies in animals are considered relevant to man. If animal studies are not suitable for extrapolation to man, a lot of time, money, and effort have been wasted, and human beings will have to be (and, regrettably, are being) used as experimental subjects. If the results of the animal studies predict foreseeable human disease, the drugs must not be used, except in the treatment of gastrinomas, since the benefits of use are negligible, while the consequences of releasing a flood of potential gastric carcinogens are intolerable.

Key Words:

• Carcinoids
• gastric cancer
• gastric secretion
• H₂-receptor antagonists
• omeprazole