Prostanoids (alprostadil and iloprost) are used for the treatment of patients with critical limb ischemia in whom revascularization procedure is inadequate or proved to be unsuccessful. According to a Cochrane analysis (CD006544) prostanoids differ in their effects on rest-pain relief and ulcer healing.
Objectives: To study the efficacy and safety of prostanoids for critical limb ischemia.
Methods: Systematic literature search and meta-analysis (mixed treatment comparison) was performed.
Results: Seven randomized controlled trials including 964 patients were analyzed. Compared to placebo, both alprostadil (OR: 3.2 95% CI: 1.7-5.5 and OR: 1.8 95% CI: 0.6-4.3) and iloprost (OR: 2.7 95% CI: 1.7-4.2 and OR: 2.5 95% CI: 1.0-5.4) were more efficacious with regard to rest-pain relief and ulcer healing and the difference between the two prostanoids was not significant (OR: 1.2 95% CI: 0.7-1.9 and OR: 0.74 95% CI: 0.3-1.5). Adverse events occurred significantly more often with both drugs compared to placebo, however, they were less frequent with alprostadil than with iloprost (OR 0.2 95% CI: 0.1-0.3).
Conclusions: Prostanoids have favorable effect on rest-pain relief and ulcer healing in critical limb ischemia, without statistically significant difference between the two available drugs. The Cochrane study (CD006544) reported mistaken results due to defaults in the analysis.