The rheological efficiency of parenteral pentoxifylline (Trental) in patients with ischemic brain lesions. Preliminary results.

10 patients with ischemic cerebral lesions were treated with 1,200-1,500 mg parenteral pentoxifylline daily for 10 days. The following rheological parameters were determined before treatment and every third day after the start of treatment: erythrocyte deformability and aggregation, hematocrit, plasma viscosity and yield shear stress. 2 patients were submitted to isovolemic hemodilution. Among all rheological parameters, the erythrocyte deformability and the yield shear stress improved significantly, whereas plasma viscosity and erythrocyte aggregation did not change. 1 patient died 20 days after admission. 9 patients improved clinically. Because of the small number of patients correlations between clinical outcome and therapy are not possible.