Effect of pentoxifylline on sickle cell thalassaemia: haemorheological and clinical results.

The effect of pentoxifylline on the deformability of red cells in sickle cell thalassaemia was investigated. The fluidity of the blood in sickle cell thalassaemia is disturbed and is accompanied by violent pains and irreversible tissue damage caused by capillary occlusions. After treating a 15-years-old female patient with pentoxifylline (2 g orally each day), the fluidity of the blood improved distinctly, and this correlated with a condition free of clinical symptoms. Erythrocyte filtration by Nuclepore filter increased significantly over the 6-month examination period (initial value: V rel = 0.068 +/- 0.008; after 6 months medication: 0.246 +/- 0.030). In addition, in the single-pore erythrocyte rigidometer (SER) a significantly improved passage time of individual erythrocytes could be demonstrated (initial value: 62.43 +/- 15.72 ms; after 4 weeks medication: 28.13 +/- 7.0 ms). The hitherto high number of rheological occlusions in the SER (48 +/- 30.9 from 200 individual passages) almost completely disappeared after treatment (1.7 +/- 1.2).