Hypervolemic treatment of the chronic obliterative arteriopathies of extremities

The efficacy of dextran therapy in forty patients with chronic occlusive arterial disease (twelve with Buerger's disease and twenty-eight with atherosclerosis obliterans) was studied by repeated measurements of the following hemodynamic parameters;: the relative walking distance (RWD), the absolute walking distance (AWD), the oscillometric index (OI), the perfusion pressure of the affected limb (PP) and the Doppler index (DI) - the last two being determined by using an ultrasound technique. The hemodynamic improvements secondary to dextran therapy were demonstrated by the increase of RWD (from 115.3 m to 235.0 m), of AWD (from 170.4 m to 339.0 m), of PP (from 64.6 +/- 12.4 mmHg to 97.6 +/- 13.3 mmHg) and of DI (from 0.38 to 0.65). These results constitute strong arguments for the wider application of dextran therapy in the comprehensive management of chronic occlusive arterial disease.