A new study demonstrates the efficacy of naftidrofuryl in the treatment of intermittent claudication. Findings of the Naftidrofuryl Clinical Ischemia Study (NCIS).

Background: The efficacy and safety of naftidrofuryl were assessed in a double blind, placebo controlled, parallel group study, in patients presenting with intermittent claudication, according to the latest European guidelines.

Methods: The outpatients selected were of both sexes, aged 35 to 85, with moderately severe chronic, stable intermittent claudication and a pain-free (PFWD) and maximum walking distance (MWD) on the treadmill of between 100 and 300 metres. They received naftidrofuryl 200 mg tid or placebo for six months and were then assessed during a six-month follow-up period without treatment.

The effect of naftidrofuryl on transcutaneous oxygen tension during a treadmill test in patients with peripheral arterial occlusive disease.

Tissue hypoxaemia can be evaluated by the noninvasive method of transcutaneous oxygen tension (tcpO2) measurement in patients with peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD). The effects of naftidrofuryl (Praxilene) on exercise-induced tissue ischaemia was objectively assessed by continuously measuring the tcpO2 in 30 patients during three treadmill tests over a 3-month period in a randomized double-blind, placebo controlled, parallel group study. To be included in the study, the tcpO2 and total walking distance had to be stable during the washout period (D-15-D0).

TcPo2 measurement reproducibility during stress in stage II obliterative arterial disease.

Distal transcutaneous oxygen pressure measurement (TcPo2) is a noninvasive method of evaluating tissular hypoxemia in peripheral arterial disease. The poststress area of hypoxemia is a usefull technique for globally quantifying different parameters represented by TcPo2 curves during exercise. Although its use is increasingly widespread, the reproducibility of this method is poorly documented.

Short-term evaluation of plaque area measurement reproducibility from computer-assisted sonography.

One reason why quantifying plaque regression is difficult is the poor spatial control of the shooting angle whether in angiography or ultrasonography techniques. A computer-assisted technique has been developed to assess absolute carotid plaque dimensions from B-mode ultrasonography, with enhanced capability of comparative examinations at large time intervals. Plaque area is measured from arterial lumen to adventitia with a real-time tissular detection program.

Study of the antiischemic action of EGb 761 in the treatment of peripheral arterial occlusive disease by TcPo2 determination.

In a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, parallel study of 20 patients, the antiischemic effect of EGb 761 (Ginkgo biloba Extract) was studied by measuring the transcutaneous partial pressure of oxygen (TcPo2) during exercise. Transcutaneous oximetry during exercise provides a good, noninvasive estimation of local arterial perfusion and constitutes a real index of local and regional capillary perfusion. Twenty patients between the ages of forty-four and seventy-three years suffering from claudicating atherosclerotic arterial occlusive disease in stage II according to the Leriche and Fontaine classification, diagnosed for more than a year and stable for three months, were included.