INTRAGASTRIC DRIP THERAPY FOR PEPTIC ULCER:  A SUMMARY OF TEN YEARS' EXPERIENCE

In 1932 one of us¹ devised the intragastric drip therapy for peptic ulcer. This therapeutic procedure was based on two ideas: 1. Whatever the ultimate cause of peptic ulcer may be, free hydrochloric acid plus pepsin is a prime factor in the development and persistence of the lesion. 2. Methods which are most effective in the neutralization of the free acidity throughout the twenty-four hours of the day are most likely to be successful in the medical therapy of peptic ulcer. In view of the fact that all previous methods of controlling the interdigestive secretion have been found inefficient, particularly throughout the longest interdigestive period, viz., the night,² the drip therapy was devised as a logical and fairly simple method of attaining this goal. The efficacy of the drip method in neutralizing gastric acidity is discussed in detail elsewhere.³

Suffice it to say that our studies indicate