Source: Heart  |  Posted 9 years ago

Cilostazol treatment is safe and effective, and improves walking distance in both diabetic and non-diabetic patients with intermittent claudication.

Diabetics with the most severe claudication appear to have better responses than those who are less affected, according to investigators from the Creighton Diabetes Center in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. They studied 436 diabetic and 1,215 non-diabetic patients from eight randomized, double-blind, phase III trials of cilostazol.

Efficacy was assessed using standard treadmill exercise protocols to measure absolute claudication distance.

Results showed that cilostazol was superior to placebo in both diabetic and non-diabetic patients. Overall, responses were similar in diabetic and non-diabetic patients.

Diabetic patients with the lowest baseline absolute claudication distance walked 34% farther after treatment with cilostazol compared with baseline distances. Response was weaker in diabetic patients with greater absolute claudication distances.

Non-diabetic patients walked 23% farther than baseline following treatment, and, in contrast to the diabetic patients, responses in this group increased with increasing baseline absolute claudication distance.

The incidence of adverse events was similar between the two populations. Diabetic patients showed no excess haemorrhagic events with cilostazol treatment.