Effects of omeprazole paste on healing of spontaneous gastric ulcers in horses and foals: a field trial.

The study investigates the impact of omeprazole paste on the healing of spontaneous gastric ulcers in horses and foals. It establishes that omeprazole significantly improved ulcer healing in the tested animals compared to those left untreated.

Introduction

• The field trial was a multicentre, blinded, randomised complete-block research, carried out on a total of 140 horses and foals. The age of these animals ranged between 4 weeks to 28 years. The purpose was to determine the effectiveness and safety of omeprazole paste in enhancing the healing of spontaneous gastric ulcers.

Methodology

• The selected horses in the study had been diagnosed with gastric ulceration by gastroscopy. They were divided into groups of 4 or 5 animals.
• In each group, one horse was given a placebo, in the form of an empty omeprazole syringe. This horse acted as the sham-dosed control. The rest of the horses received omeprazole paste once every day for a period of 28 days.
• At the end of the study, a second gastroscopy was conducted.

Results

• Based on the results, there was a significant improvement (P < 0.01) in the ulcer scores for the horses that were treated with omeprazole paste when compared to the control group given the placebo.
• Improvements were noted in 32.4% and 99.0% of the control and omeprazole groups, respectively. This indicated a much higher rate of improvement in the group receiving the omeprazole treatment.
• Complete healing of ulcers was observed in 8.9% of the control group and 86.7% of the omeprazole group, underlining the effectiveness of the omeprazole paste.

Conclusion

• From the results, the study concludes that under normal field conditions, omeprazole paste is effective at improving the healing of spontaneous gastric ulcers. This finding was consistent across horses of different ages and breeds.