Changing prescription of low-dose aspirin into calcium carbasalate (brand name: Ascal) to prevent peptic ulcerations is not useful. Peptic ulcers are evenly distributed among users of calcium carbasalate and aspirin, for secondary prevention of myocardial infarction.
These numbers are presented in a scientific publication by researchers of the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre and the Erasmus Medical Centre Rotterdam (The Netherlands), online first in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, the official clinical journal of the American Gastroenterology Association (AGA).
Side effects
More than 1.1 million patients are prescribed low-dose aspirin for platelet aggregation inhibition in The Netherlands (GIP database, CVZ 2006). However, a significant number of patients on aspirin experience side effects, like bloating, nausea or even peptic ulcers. These effects can be contributed to both local and systemic pathways: 1) poor disintegration of aspirin may cause drug concentration to be higher in certain parts of the stomach leading to a direct irritating effect; 2) aspirin decreases the production of prostaglandins, that are required for gastric mucosal wall integrity. Consequently, aspirin can change the gastric environment into more sensitive for development of peptic ulcerations.
Comparison