Intermittent claudication: a controlled study in parallel time of the short-term and long-term effects of cinnarizine

In a group of 45 patients with mild to moderately severe claudication studied over the same 4-month period, cinnarizine administration (75 mg 3-times daily) was associated with a greater than 20% improvement in walking distance in 65% of the patients, who derived significantly more benefit than the 30% of placebo responders. The mean improvement in walking distance was 11% for the placebo group compared to 142% for cinnarizine-treated patients. An open 12-month follow-up showed that improvements in walking distance with cinnarizine were maintained in all 12 patients, whereas in the 10 control patients only 10% reported improvement. Objectively, significant plethysmographic improvements were detected only for the cinnarizine-treated patients and shown by an increase in arterial flow-pressure dynamics of the lower limbs.