Haemorheological treatment of painful sickle cell crises. Use of pentoxifylline

A variety of drugs have been tried, with little or no benefit, to prevent and treat painful crises in patients with sickle cell anaemia. The new drug pentoxifylline, which has the ability to alter red cell flexibility, was tried in nine patients with painful vaso-occlusive crises. Another nine matched patients served as control. While no patient in the control group improved, five patients in the pentoxifylline group responded favourably within 48 hours. We conclude that pentoxifylline may be useful in patients with acute painful vasoocclusive crises due to sickle cell anaemia.