160 patients suffering from radiologically confirmed peripheral obliterating arteriopathy have been studied with respect to frequency of lipid alterations. The resulting data were compared with those observed in a group of clinically healthy subjects. In the arteriopathic series, lipid alterations were encountered in 44% of patients, with a percentage of 12.5% for Fredrikson type II, 7.4% for III and 24% for IV. In women, incidence attained 50% and type classification was 25% for the 2nd, 12.5% for the 3rd and 14.5% for the 4th. An alteration of 18.7% was encountered in the control group. The high frequency of hyperlipidaemia in peripheral vascular diseases reported in the literature and confirmed by the above data, justifies the employement of appropriate dietetic and pharmacological measures for the prevention and treatment of this arteriosclerotic disease risk factor.