Abstract

• Objectives
  Diabetic peripheral neuropathies are one of the most frequent complications of diabetes, and multiple metabolic and vascular disturbances are involved in the pathogenetic mechanisms of diabetic neuropathies.
• Methods
  Thirty patients with diabetic neuropathies from ischemic peripheral vascular disease were received cilostazol, an antithrombotic and vasodilating drug, 200mg a day in two divided doses for eight weeks at the Ewha Womans University Hospital. We analysed the eff-ects between before and efter treatment with cilostazol.
• Results
  1) Total 30 patients were studied : 21 patients wre female and 9 patients were male. Their mean age was 60.2±9.9 years, and mean duration of diabetes was 8.0±4.9years. As comp-lications, 47% of them had retinopathy and 30% of them nephropathy.
  2) No significant difference was found in physical findings, metabolic control states, CBC, blood chemistry and lipid levels before and after cilostazol treatment.
  3) The score of resting pain and numbness were significantly decreased, and cold sensation and claudication were decreased after cilostazol treatment.
  4) The score of arterial pulsation and Doppler wave was decreased, and the ankle pressure index was increased from 1.04±0.07 to 1.08±0.13 after cilostazol treatment, but there was no statistical significance.
  5) Adverse effects were noted in 20% of cilostazol treated patients, 3 cases of headache, 2 facial flush and palpitation and 1 rash and urticaria, respectively.
  6) The assessment of overall improvement of the disease, including "markedly improved", "improved" and "slightly improved" amounted to 63%. The assessment of overall safety of the drug, including "safe" and "almost safe" amounted to 80%. The assessment of overall utility of the drug, including "very useful", "useful" and "slightly useful" amounted to 63%.
• Conclusion
  Cilostazol was useful in the treatment of diabetic patients with peripheral vascular disease accompanied by ischemic symptoms to improve subjective symptoms and blood flow.