Antiplatelet agents have a beneficial effect in reducing all cause mortality and fatal cardiovascular events in patients with IC .
BACKGROUND Peripheral arterial disease ( PAD ) is common and is a marker of systemic atherosclerosis .
Patients with symptoms of intermittent claudication ( IC ) are at increased risk of cardiovascular events ( myocardial infa rct ion ( MI ) and stroke ) and of both cardiovascular and all cause mortality .
OBJECTIVES To determine the effectiveness of antiplatelet agents in reducing mortality ( all cause and cardiovascular ) and cardiovascular events in patients with intermittent claudication .
Three-Month Therapy with Calcium-Heparin in Comparison with Ticlopidine in Patients with Peripheral Arterial Occlusive Disease at Leriche-Fontaine IIb Class
Forty patients with a mean age of 62.6 ± 6 years , 36 men and 4 women , with peripheral arterial occlusive disease ( PAOD ) at Leriche-Fontaine IIb class , were r and omly allocated to one of two treatment groups , receiving either 12,500 IU/ day of subcutaneous ( sc ) calcium-heparin ( CAE ) or 250 mg/day of oral ticlopi dine , each given for ninety days . The following parameters were evaluated be fore the start of the active treatment period and after thirty and ninety days of treatment : pain-free walking distance ( PWD ) , maximum walking distance ( WDmax ) , systolic and diastolic blood pressure ( BP ) , posterior tibial arterial pressure and Winsor index at rest and after exercise ( treadmill ) , transcutaneous oxygen and carbon dioxide pressures at rest ( TcPO2 and TcPCO2 respectively ) , and time to 50 % TcPo2 recovery after three-minute ischemia . Both treatments induced an improvement in PWD/WDmax , which , at the end of the study , were increased by 50.7/58.7 % and 31.7/36.2 % , respectively , for CAE and ticlopidine treatments , respectively . Statistical analysis did not show any difference between treatments , al though a statistically significant difference was found in comparison with basal measurements for both CAE and ticlopidine treatments ( p < 0.01 ) . Neverthe less , the effects determined by ticlopidine were , on the whole , less impressive than those of CAE . In fact , interestingly , although not in a statistically significant way , the CAE group walked longer in comparison with the ticlopidine group irrespective of the more critical baseline clinical conditions . Moreover , TcPo2 was favorably modified by CAE ( p < 0.01 ) but not by ticlopidine treatment while the other parameters remained unchanged . In conclusion , CAE , given at the daily dose of 12,500 IU in patients with PAOD at the Leriche-Fontaine IIb class , showed beneficial clinical effects , which , in turn , could be due both to the removal of the thrombophilic i m balance and to the restoration of the fibrinolytic-coagulatory hemostasis in the involved microvascular circulation
Antiplatelet agents have a beneficial effect in reducing all cause mortality and fatal cardiovascular events in patients with IC .
BACKGROUND Peripheral arterial disease ( PAD ) is common and is a marker of systemic atherosclerosis .
Patients with symptoms of intermittent claudication ( IC ) are at increased risk of cardiovascular events ( myocardial infa rct ion ( MI ) and stroke ) and of both cardiovascular and all cause mortality .
OBJECTIVES To determine the effectiveness of antiplatelet agents in reducing mortality ( all cause and cardiovascular ) and cardiovascular events in patients with intermittent claudication .