[Effect of probucol on lipid metabolism and the clinical course of ischemic heart disease and arteriosclerosis obliterans of the vessels of the lower extremities].

Thirty-eight men with chronic coronary heart disease (CHD) aged 38 to 65 years (ten patients with attendant obliterating atherosclerosis of lower extremity vessels) were treated with the hypolipidemic drug probucol in a dose of 1000 mg/day for three months. Probucol exerted a beneficial effect on the clinical course of CHD and obliterating atherosclerosis of the lower limb vessels. The drug has a marked hypocholesterolemic effect in CHD patients with high cholesterol levels in the blood serum which warrants the advisability of its use in type IIa and IIb hyperlipoproteinemia. The probucol therapy is associated with a decrease in the cholesterol/erythrocyte membrane phospholipids molar ratio which improves the rheological properties of the blood in CHD patients. The drug produces no side effects.