[A therapeutic comparison between hemodilution and pentoxifylline in arterial obstructive disease. An objective...

The effects of a five-week course of haemodilution or pentoxifylline were compared in two matched groups of 10 patients each (18 men, 2 women; mean age 63 [47-77] years) with peripheral vascular disease of the legs, using clinical findings and Doppler ultrasound measurements as the criteria. Ten patients (group I) had six venesections of 400 ml each followed by the injection of 500 ml low-molecular dextran (10%), while the other ten (group II) received 400 mg pentoxifylline four times daily by mouth after initial intravenous loading. Pain-free and maximal walking distance increased in group I by 139 and 598 m, respectively (P less than 0.01), and by 155 (P less than 0.01) and 191 m in group II. The greater increase in maximal walking distance in group I was significant as calculated by regression analysis (P less than 0.05). Only in group I was there a significant prestenotic maximal and effective increase in blood flow velocity (by 66%: P less than 0.001 and 68%: P less than 0.05, respectively), while the poststenotic effective velocity also increased significantly by 66% (P less than 0.01). There was no significant change in group II patients.