[Acute renal insufficiency caused by diflunisal. Description of a case]

A case of kidney failure in a patient with cirrhosis of the liver in the ascitic stage after treatment of a non-steroid anti-inflammatory drug, diflunisal, is reported. The pathogenesis of the kidney impairment, quickly reversed by withdrawal of the drug, is attributed to pharmacological inhibition of cyclo-oxygenase and prostaglandin synthesis with consequent alterations of intrarenal haemodynamics and renal blood flow.