[Epidemiologic study of peripheral obstructive arteriopathies: clinical effects of treatment with buflomedil chlorhydrate (Loftyl). Processing of data furnished by a polycenter study].

An Italian multi-centre trial of buflomedil in the clinical management of 814 cases of lower limb artery obstruction is reported. The incidence of risk factors in relation to age, sex and clinical stage is discussed. There were many patients under 55 with claudicatio intermittens. Smoking was the main risk factor, followed by hyperdyslipidaemia, in patients in the 7th decade of life. The incidence of diabetes was higher than that of other risk factors in women. Treatment with buflomedil for 3 months led to a significant improvement in signs and symptoms in all four clinical stages. In particular, walking range in the 2nd stage increased by 125.3% on an average (p less than 0.001), with a significant improvement after only 1 month. Improvement was dose-dependent in nearly all cases (94.9%).