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A Case Whose Intermittent Claudication Disappeared After Weight Reduction

Katsuhiro Toda

A 58-year-old male (162.1 cm, 76.8 kg, body mass index 29.2) suffered from intermittent claudication. At the initial visit, walking 10-100 meters caused pain in lateral part of the right lower limb, resulting in inability to walk. Xray showed mild forward slip of the fifth lumbar vertebra, however, MRI did not show narrowing of the lumbar canal. He could walk at least 1 km without pausing with Neurotropin^®. If he failed to take Neurotropin^®, he suffered from pain of the right lower limb. Four months later, he weighed 71.0 kg. He discontinued Neurotropin^®, however, he did not feel pain during walking.

In the patient, weight reduction eliminated intermittent claudication without effective medicine. It is unclear whether the patient suffered from lumbar canal stenosis (LCS). Weight reduction is one of the first-line treatments in obese or overweight patients with LCS. Weight reduction is a safe and inexpensive treatment. Even if weight reduction does not alleviate symptoms, it improves overall health in former obese or overweight persons. However, we should not recommend weight reduction to patients whose first priority is maintaining of the amount of food.