[Intravenous pentoxifylline in Fontaine stage II and III peripheral arterial diseases]. / La pentossifillina per via endovenosa nell'arteriopatia periferica al II e III stadio Fontaine.

Thirty patients with lower limb arterial disease (15 Fontaine stage II, 15 stage III) were treated for two weeks with continuous pentoxifylline infusion (1 g daily). In all cases, a significant improvement of the Winsor index was obtained: in stage II from 0.57 +/- 0.11 to 0.67 +/- 0.15 (p less than 0.008), and in stage III from 0.43 +/- 0.20 to 0.58 +/- 0.19 (p less than 0.042). In patients who could be submitted to treadmill exercise, the average distance increased from 216 +/- 88 m to 314 +/- 187 m (p less than 0.05) while distance walked without pain increased from 124 +/- 76 m to 199 +/- 153 (p less than 0.05).