Effect of prostaglandin inhibition by indomethacin on renal function in alcoholic versus non-alcoholic cirrhotic patients.

The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of inhibition of renal prostaglandin synthesis on renal function in 11 patients with alcoholic cirrhosis and 11 with non-alcoholic cirrhosis. After indomethacin administration to the 11 alcoholic patients, the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and effective renal plasma flow (RPF) decreased significantly (p less than 0.05), but were found to decrease more significantly in the non-alcoholic cirrhosis group. The plasma disappearance rate of indocyanine green was lower in the non-alcoholic group than the alcoholic group, and correlated inversely with the percent decrease in GFR and RPF after indomethacin. These results suggest that the augmented effect of indomethacin is greater in the non-alcoholic group than the alcoholic group, which may be related to the decrease in hepatic blood flow.