Clinical Study On The Effect Of Shenlongtang On Vascular Dementia

Objectives: To assess the clinical efficacy of Shenlongtang on vascular dementia and observe its effect on the patients' cerebral glucose metabolism. To assess the safety of Shenlongtang .Methods: The criteria of Diagnostic & Statistical Manual ofMental Disorders 4th ed. (DSM-IV) and NINDS/AIREN "probable VD"were practiced in this study. The patients were chosen if their HIS scores were greater than 6, their MMSE-R scores were between 5 and 23, and their TCM syndromes were measured up to the deficiency of the Sea of Medulla and Qi (Vital Energy) as well as blood stasis. The cross-over experiment method was used in our study. 18 cases of VD were divided randomly into 2 groups (group A and group B) and there were 9 patients in each group. Placebo-treated and double-blind methods were used, and the patients were cross-over investigated. The whole study was divided into 2 treatment periods 3 months for each and a wash-out period of 1 month. The whole experiment last 7 months. In the first treatment period, the patients of group A were treated by medicine I and group B by medicine II. After 1 month of wash-out period, all patients were enrolled in the second treatment period , in which the cases werecross-over tested, i. e. the patients of group A were treated by medicine II and group B by medicine I. The intelligence scales marks, clinical symptoms scores and focal neurological signs were evaluated. In addition, plasma lipid tests, blood viscosity tests and FDG-PET for some typical cases were performed as observing indexes. All indexes were examined at the beginning and end of each period. At the same time, the patients' hepatic and nephric functions and routine tests of blood and urine were tested. All these indexes were analyzed to contrast the efficacies of Shenlongtang and placebo. The remedial effects of Shenlongtang on VD and the security of the medicine were evaluated,.Results: The total effective rate of Shenlongtang was 66. 67%, and it was significantly higher than that of placebo. It had obvious effects on VD in improving the patients' cognitive impairments and behavior disturbances. The scores of intelligence scales of VD patients increased, and VD patients' activities of daily living, clinical symptoms and focal neurological signs were ameliorated. The abnormalities of the VD patients' plasma lipids and blood viscosity were improved, and the VD patients' cerebral glucose metabolism was also ameliorated. After experiment, there weren't abnormal changes of all patients' hepatic and nephric functions and routine tests of blood and urine. There were no apparent side effects in the whole course.Conclusions: The effect of Shenlongtang on treatment of VD wasaffirmative with the total effective rate of 66.67 %. Its efficacy was higher than that of placebo. Shenlongtang was proved to ameliorate the stagnant and agglutinative conditions of VD in its occurrence and development, and it had preventative functions on VD. The results of research also showed that the medicine was safe for treatment.