Peripheral vasodilators versus pentoxifylline for the treatment of intermittent claudication.

It should be recalled that the seven-center study conducted in the United States was initiated at a time when American physicians had recognized that past attempts to prove efficacy of peripheral vasodilators in treadmill testing had failed. The positive results derived from pentoxifylline treatment are significant because, for the first time, treadmill testing can prove the effectiveness of a hemorheologic drug, such as pentoxifylline, in the treatment of patients with intermittent claudication. Since treadmill testing is regarded as the most objective measurement of therapeutic success in claudicant patients, the positive results can assure us that hemorheologic drugs increasing erythrocyte flexibility are highly desired in treating peripheral vascular insufficiency, such as intermittent claudication.