ROTTERDAM, Netherlands, Feb 3, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Patients with leg pain
caused by arterial disease may be able to forego treatment of the affected
artery by participating in hospital-supervised exercise.
Various treatments are available, including drug therapy or endovascular
revascularization -- a minimally invasive technique that widens and restores
blood flow to the affected artery -- for intermittent claudication is a painful
leg condition affecting some patients with peripheral arterial disease.
Lead author Sandra Spronk of the University Medical Center in Rotterdam in the
Netherlands said 151 patients with intermittent claudication were randomly
assigned to undergo revascularization or hospital-supervised exercise.
Supervised exercise consisted of 30-minute, semi-weekly sessions of walking on a
treadmill. Follow-up was performed after six and 12 months.
"The results from our clinical trial demonstrate that after six and 12 months,
patients with intermittent claudication benefited equally from either
revascularization or supervised exercise," Spronk said in a statement. "However,
improvement is more immediate following revascularization."
The study, published in the journal Radiology, also found no significant
differences were observed between the two groups after six months or 12 months
with functional capacity and quality of life scores increasing for all patients.
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Copyright 2009 by United Press International