Iloprost treatment in patients with Raynaud's phenomenon secondary to systemic sclerosis and the quality of life: a new therapeutic protocol

Objectives: to evaluate the clinical efficacy and the effects on the quality of life of Iloprost, a prostacyclin analogue, used, according to a new protocol, in patients with Raynaud’s phenomenon secondary to Systemic Sclerosis. Methods: in this randomized study we treated 30 patients with Iloprost given by intravenous infusion, at progressively increasing doses (starting from 0.5 ng/Kg/min up 2 ng/Kg/min) over a period of 6 hours a day for ten days in two consecutive weeks, with repeated cycles at regular intervals of three months for 18 months. The results were compared with those obtained in 30 other patients, who had received the same drug but with different posologic schemes. Results: …