Treatment of Chronic Arterial Occlusions with Streptokinase

Of 27 patients with long standing arterial occlusions treated with streptokinase, reconstitution of flow in the external iliac and femoral arteries occurred in 17, confirming an earlier report that fibrinolytic therapy with streptokinase may be useful in such cases. The important practical implication is that there may be a large number of patients (in whom it was formerly considered that fibrinolytic therapy would not be effective) who could benefit from such therapy.