Long-term effects of ticlopidine on fibrinogen and haemorheology in patients with peripheral arterial disease.

The effects of ticlopidine treatment (250 mg b.i.d. for 21 months) on fibrinogen and other rheological variables, as compared to placebo, were studied in 44 patients with intermittent claudication due to peripheral arterial occlusive disease. Blood samples were collected every 3 months during this double-blind, randomised placebo-controlled trial which lasted 21 months. Consistently lower values of fibrinogen, haematocrit and whole blood viscosity at high and low shear rate levels were found in the ticlopidine group; the intergroup differences were statistically significant at most but not all follow-up examinations. A significant time-related variance was observed in the ticlopidine group for the measured variables, also after correction for the variability found in the placebo group. Thus, the observed changes in the ticlopidine group are mainly treatment related. These effects on fibrinogen and haemorheology may contribute, besides the known antiplatelet activity of the drug, to the clinical improvement reported in a larger group of claudicants to which the present subset of patients belong.