J Korean Pain Soc.  1992 May;5(1):85-88.

Intravenous Regional Administration of Prostaglandin E1 for the Treatment of Buerger's Disease

• Choe H
• Kim DC
• Han YJ

Abstract

Buerger's disease is a chronic occlusive arterial disease in which a non-arteriosclerotic lesion involves medium-sized arteries, veins, and nerves of the distal leg or arm. Sympathetic interruption is indicated to improve blood flow to the involved extremity, although sympathetic blockade can provide temporally relief of vasospasm and pain. Chemical or surgical sympathectomy has been performed for this purpose and intravenous regional sympathetic block (IRSB) is an alternative. Guanethidine or reserpine has been administered for IRSB. Intraarterial or intravenous systemic administration of prostaglandin El (PGE1) has been recommended for the treatment of Buerger's disease. We used PGE1 for intravenous regional administration as an IRSB with results as good as that of intraarterial injection. The advantages of the method include that it is less expensive than systemic administration, less invasive than intra-arterial injection, and simplc in technical application.

Keyword

Buerger's disease; Prostaglandin E1; Intravenous regioanal sympathetic block

MeSH Terms

Alprostadil*
Arm
Arteries
Extremities
Guanethidine
Injections, Intra-Arterial
Leg
Reserpine
Sympathectomy
Thromboangiitis Obliterans*
Veins
Alprostadil
Guanethidine
Reserpine