Comparing the Effects of Pantoprazole and Ranitidine in the Prevention of Post-Operative Gastrointestinal Complications in Patients Undergoing Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery

Patients undergoing coronary surgery are usually treated by anti-thrombus [acetyl salicylic acid (ASA) and anti-coagulant] drugs that lead to emergence of some gastrological problems such as peptic ulcer without any symptom. The present study aims at comparing the effects of pantoprazole and ranitidine in reducing the incidence of gastrointestinal complications in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG).
In a clinical trial, 90 candidates for CABG surgery were randomly divided into two groups of 45 patients. In the first group, pantoprazole and in the second group, ranitidine was prescribed before and after surgery until releasing from intensive care unit (ICU). They were studied in terms of incidence of upper gastrological problems until releasing from ICU and the obtained data were analyzed by SPSS software.
Findings: During hospitalization in ICU, 13 patients from pantoprazole and 15 patients from ranitidine group showed gastrological symptoms (28.9% on contrary to 33.3%); however, the difference between two groups was not significant (P = 0.65). The mentioned gastrological symptoms include abdominal distention and vomiting and no case of hematomas and melena was observed in either of groups. The mean duration of hospitalization in ICU in pantoprazole and ranitidine groups were 44.1 ± 12.9 and 51.0 ± 28.1 hours, respectively; however, the difference between two groups was not significant (P = 0.14).
There is no advantage in using pantoprazole rather than ranitidine for patients hospitalized in ICU and ranitidine could be preferred due to economical matters.