[Stomach tolerance of indomethacin derivatives: an endoscopic comparative study in healthy probands]

The effect of 5 days' treatment with indomethacin, acemethacin and proglumethacin on the gastroduodenal mucosa was endoscopically evaluated in healthy volunteers. In a randomised double-blind crossover system 16 subjects received 50 mg t.i.d. indomethacin and 60 mg t.i.d. acemethacin, and a further 16 volunteers received 50 mg t.i.d. indomethacin and 150 mg t.i.d. proglumethacin. After 5 days both proglumethacin and acemethacin caused significantly less gastroduodenal lesions than indomethacin. Possible reasons for the apparently better gastro-duodenal tolerability of both indomethacin derivatives are discussed.