Possible association between maternal indomethacin therapy and primary pulmonary hypertension of the newborn.

Indomethacin purportedly arrests premature labor by inhibiting the production of prostaglandins. Animal experimentation has demonstrated that prostaglandins are involved in the neonatal rerouting of the circulation. Experience with two neonates with disorders circulatory adjustment at birth following prenatal exposure to indomethacin indicates that indomethacin may interfere with these adjustments in man and favor the development of the serious oxygen dependency known as primary pulmonary hypertension of the newborn.