Antidiuretic responses to injected desmopressin, alone and with indomethacin

Desmopressin (dDAVP) is a synthetic analog of arginine vasopressin which generally has been very effective, used intranasally, in the treatment of diabetes insipidus. There are several clinical situations, however, where a parenteral route of administration would be preferable. Using 6 patients with diabetes insipidus, we have shown a dose-response relationship between 0.5 and 4 microgram of dDAVP injected sc. The nonsteroidal, antiinflammatory agent, indomethacin, augments the magnitude, but not the duration, of the response to 0.5 microgram dDAVP. These observations suggest that injected dDAVP, generally in the amount of 1 or 2 microgram, would be a valuable agent in the treatment of diabetes insipidus and that combined therapy with indomethacin is probably not warranted.