Pentoxifylline for intermittent claudication. A critical review.

Pentoxifylline was first introduced in Germany twenty years ago. Today it is the best researched oral drug for intermittent claudication. A total of seventeen placebo-controlled trials could be retrieved from the world literature. The majority of these studies show that pentoxifylline will prolong the walking distance in a statistically significant way. Even though these trials are conducted with considerable scientific rigor, important flaws can be identified. Whether the symptomatic improvement is clinically relevant is difficult to say and may depend on the patient's individual situation. These collective data show that pentoxifylline prolongs the walking distance in patients with intermittent claudication.