Joseph Poole, M.D., Ph.D., of the Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, and colleagues studied whether therapy with granulocyte - macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM - CSF), an agent that functions as a white blood cell growth factor, would improve walking performance in patients with
symptomatic peripheral artery disease (a form of vascular disease in which there is partial or total blockage of an artery, usually one leading to a leg or arm).
Intermittent claudication is the classic
symptomatic form of
peripheral artery disease (PAD), affecting approximately 20 to 40 million people worldwide and increasing rapidly with the aging world population.