Treatment of peripheral arteriopathies with a new low weight heparin. Results of a double blind, controlled study

Abstract

Forty out-patients, 28 males and 12 females (mean age: 50.75 +/- 5.28); range: 39 to 67) suffering from peripheral arteriopathies of the lower limbs, were admitted to the study. The treatment, assigned at random in a balanced way, was performed with an LMWH or with placebo (one vial by s.c. route/day, for a mean duration of 6 months). During the therapy we observed a gradual symptomatology, claudicatio intermittens and Winsor index improvement in patients treated with the active drug, in comparison with evident stationarity in patients treated with placebo. The haemocoagulative balance control, performed through the determination of Activated Partial Thromboplastin Time, of Xa factor inhibition and of plasminogen, confirmed the poor influence of the treatment with LMWH both on haemostatic function and on a possible increment in haemorrhagic risk. Systemic and local (at the injection site) tolerability were good in particular as to haematoma frequency.