Buflomedil in arterial occlusive disease: results of a controlled multicenter study

In a double-blind, randomised multicentre study buflomedil, a vasoactive substance, was compared with placebo in the treatment of 93 patients with chronic arterial occlusive disease. After a run-in period of four weeks the patients received either buflomedil (600 mg daily) or placebo over 12 weeks. The pain-free and the total walking distances improved significantly in both groups. However, the differences in the improvement between the two groups were highly significant and in favour of buflomedil: for the pain-free walking distance p less than 0.001 and for the total walking distance p less than 0.01. The results indicate that buflomedil has a beneficial effect on the symptoms and lengthens the walking distance in patients with arterial occlusive disease.