Indomethacin treatment of acute experimental pancreatitis in the rat.

Indomethacin given orally or intramuscularly before or shortly after induction of acute sodium-taurocholate or olive-oil-induced pancreatitis in rats reduced the lethality. Neither the enzyme content of serum, ascites, and pancreatic tissue nor the damage to the organ itself were changed under the influence of indomethacin. Thus a modification of systemic effects of acute pancreatitis may be responsible for the beneficial effect of indomethacin.