PMID: 9546913Jan 1, 1996Paper

Claudication as an 'orphan disease': rationale and goals of drug therapy for peripheral arterial disease

Vascular Medicine
Alan T. Hirsch

Abstract

Patients with peripheral arterial disease are often perceived to suffer from a disorder whose pathogenesis and symptoms are not amenable to drug therapies. This clinical misperception remains prevalent despite an abundance of data suggesting that diverse pharmacotherapies may modulate the natural history of this disease. Patients with chronic limb arterial occlusive disease suffer from a disease that is characterized by: (1) a prolonged asymptomatic state that can be identified by simple physical examination and confirmed by measurement of the ankle brachial index; (2) a multi-year period of symptomatic claudication; and (3) a variable rate of progression to critical limb ischemia or acute arterial occlusion. This stage-dependent disease progression is mediated via the dynamic, but as yet incompletely understood, interaction of factors that elicit endothelial dysfunction, atherogenesis, and thrombosis. Current data suggest that each of these contributory disease processes can be modulated by extant pharmacotherapies. Additionally, many novel pharmacotherapeutic agents that are currently under investigation may further improve the ability of clinicians to modulate these fundamental biologic processes. Pharmacologic therapies sho...Continue Reading

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