Abstract

Aprotinin (Trasylol - FBA), a polypeptide extracted from bovine lung, inhibits various proteolytic enzymes in vitro, including trypsin and plasmin, and in higher concentration inhibits blood coagulation.^{1 2} In 1965 we concluded that aprotinin was of uncertain value in acute pancreatitis.³ More recent work with the drug suggests that it should be reassessed, both as an inhibitor of trypsin in acute pancreatitis, and as an inhibitor of the fibrinolytic enzyme plasmin and of blood coagulation in the defibrination syndrome, the haemorrhagic state characterised by depletion of fibrinogen and other clotting factors.