Administration of serine protease inhibitors to the stomach

The inventors have unexpectedly discovered that shock and/or potential multi-organ failure due to shock can be effectively treated by administration of liquid high-dose protease inhibitor formulations to a location upstream of where pancreatic proteases are introduced into the gastrointestinal tract. Most preferably, administration is directly to the stomach, for example, via nasogastric tube under a protocol effective to treat shock by such administration without the need of providing significant quantities of the protease inhibitor to the jejunum and/or ileum.