Long-term Intraarterial Infusion Therapy with Prostaglandin E1 in Patients with Ischemic Ulcer of the Extremities

Abstract

There is confusion about blood flow of the foot during intraarterial infusion of prostaglandin E ₁. The authors studied blood flow in the dorsalis pedis arter ies of patients with ischemic ulcer during the infusion and report the results in this paper.

Prostaglandin E₁ was continuously infused intraarterially for a mean of 30.9 ±14.5 days in 17 lower extremities of 11 patients with intractable ischemic ulcers. Thirteen of the 17 cases responded to the treatment—especially the cases in which peripheral arteries near the foot joint were patent. In the dorsalis pedis artery, the blood flow increased by 266.3% during the arterial infusion, but no differences were seen in the peak frequency or the percent window denoting the degree of spectral broadening in the infused lower limb. On the other hand, there was no statistically significant difference between the blood flow, peak frequency, or percent window of the contralateral lower limb before, and those parameters during, the infusion. The authors observed complications in 9 of 17 cases, which necessitated the discontinuation of the infusion.