Comparative randomized study of cerebral blood flow after long-term administration of pentoxifylline and co-dergocrine mesylate in patients with chronic cerebrovascular disease.

The behaviour of regional cerebral blood flow was studied in 90 patients with vascular type dementia. Patients were divided at random into three groups of 30 and treated 3-times daily over a period of 8 weeks with either 400 mg pentoxifylline ('Trental' 400) or 2 mg co-dergocrine mesylate, or remained untreated (control group). Measurements of regional cerebral blood flow were made before and after 4 and 8 weeks of the study using an atraumatic inhalative 133Xenon clearance technique and assessments made in 16 regions of interest per hemisphere (grey matter perfusion). A statistically significant increase over baseline in mean regional cerebral blood flow was found in patients on pentoxifylline medication at Weeks 4 and 8. At Week 8, the change from baseline was +16.4% in the pentoxifylline group whereas the respective values for the other two groups were +0.4% for co-dergocrine mesylate, -2.4% for the controls. Hypoemic regions showed the most pronounced regional cerebral blood flow changes with pentoxifylline (+40%), the corresponding values for the co-dergocrine mesylate and control group being +10.8% and +0.4%, respectively.