[Conservative therapy of peripheral arterial occlusive diseases]

Treatment of peripheral arterial occlusive disease depends upon pathogenesis, localization, and severity of disease. For patients with intermittent claudication the goal should be an increased reserve capacity, and in critical limb ischemia therapy should aim at restitution of the basal metabolism. Hemodynamic as well as hemorheologic improvements act in this way. Considering the pathophysiological, pathobiochemical, and clinical aspects of the individual patient, both mechanisms can be used systematically. The efficacy of therapeutic principles in angiology has not been confirmed through large-scale, randomized, placebo-controlled, long-term follow-up studies until now, in contrast to the field of cardiology.