[Effects of long-term administration of cilostazol on chronic cerebral circulatory insufficiency--with special reference to cerebral blood flow and clinical symptoms].

This report deals with a study of the effectiveness, safety, and usefulness of long-term administration of Cilostazol for the improvement of cerebral blood flow and clinical symptoms in 24 patients with Chronic Cerebral Circulatory Insufficiency. Cerebral blood flow was investigated quantitatively using the Patlak plot method. Cilostazol was orally administered for 209 days on average. In the global improvement rating assessed on the basis of all subjective symptoms, the final improvement rate, comprising all cases showing moderate or better improvement, was 52.2%. Regarding individual symptoms, dizziness, orthostatic syncope, dull headache, and headache showed improvement rates of 30% or more. Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was increased in both cerebral and cerebellar hemispheres. The global improvement rating for subjective symptoms and the delta % rCBF for every region except the cerebral hemispheres were positively correlated. However, there was no positive correlation between the global improvement rating for psychiatric symptoms and the delta % rCBF for any region. Regarding individual subjective symptoms, dizziness showed an especially high positive correlation of above 0.7 between the improvement rating and the delta % rCBF in the left temporal lobe, basal ganglia, and cerebellum. Headache was observed as an adverse drug reaction in 8 of 24 patients, but it disappeared with reduction of the dose or discontinuation of administration. No other severe adverse drug reactions were noticed. In summary, it was concluded that Cilostazol was useful for treating chronic cerebral circulatory insufficiency.