A Clinical Study on Pentoxifylline (Trental(R)) in the Treatment of Cerebrovascular Disease

ABSTRACT

Pentoxifylline (Trental(R)) is a drug which blocks pathophysiologic process of cerebrovascular disease by inhibiting platelet aggregation, improving cerebral microcirculation preventing development of cerebral edema. In an attempt to evaluate the effect of pentoxifylline for the treatment of 25 patients (male 17 cases, female 8 cases) with cerebrovasculaar disease, we administered pentoxifylline 600mg daily in devided dosage for 1 to 7 months. Most of them were patients with cerebral thrombosis (52%), cerebral embolism (24%), cerebral hemorrhage (12%) and transient ischemic attack (12%). Clinical effects were evaluated at least 1 month later by the criteria using scoring method of serverity of symptoms. In summary, definite effect was found in 15 cases (60%), mild effect in 6 cases (24%) and no efect or aggravation in 4 cases (16%), especially in patients with cerebral hemorrhage. During treatment there was no significant side effect except mild elevation of serum creatinine in one case who was associated with chronic renal failure.