Placebo-controlled, double-blind trial of hemodilution in peripheral occlusive arterial disease.

A number of uncontrolled trials has suggested that hemodilution is effective in peripheral occlusive arterial disease. This study was aimed at proving or disproving the efficacy of hemodilution by using a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind crossover design. Twenty-four stable claudicants with long, collateralized femoropopliteal obstructions were treated with isovolemic hemodilution with 500 mL of 10% hydroxyethyl starch 200 and sham dilutions. Three weeks of hemodilution lowered blood and plasma viscosity, as well as hematocrit, and increased resting blood flow and pain-free walking distance. Placebo treatments produced no such favorable changes. It is concluded that hemodilution therapy can be clinically effective in patients with arterial obstructions in the lower extremities. Hemodilution seems particularly promising under hemodynamic condition of low shear stresses in vivo.

RCT Entities:   Population Interventions Outcomes