Studies of the clinical pharmacology and therapeutic efficacy of pentoxifylline in peripheral obstructive arterial disease.

Studies were carried out to investigate the effects of pentoxifylline on various hemorheological (whole blood, plasma and serum viscosity, erythrocyte filtrability, hematocrit), hemostasiological (blood coagulation and fibrinolysis: euglobulin lysis time, fibrinogen, plasminogen, alpha-2-macroglobulin, alpha-1-antitrypsin, antiplasmin; platelet function: beta-thromboglobulin), and hemodynamic factors (limb perfusion: rest and peak flow, time to peak flow; systemic blood pressure, heart rate). In addition, clinical efficacy was monitored in patients with claudication by assessing walking capacity under placebo controlled double blind cross over conditions. The investigations disclosed the positive influence of acute and chronic pentoxifylline administration on hemorheological, hemostasiological and perfusion parameters, most of the changes recorded being statistically significant. The clinical benefit of pentoxifylline (Trental 400) treatment was demonstrated by the significantly superior increase in walking capacity in comparison to placebo in the controlled study.