RESEARCH - Comparison of efficacy and safety of nifedipine with Ginkgo biloba extract for primary Raynaud's phenomenon

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Clinical Rheumatology

Journal of the International League of Associations for Rheumatology

Received: 18 March 2008 Revised: 24 December 2008 Accepted: 27

December 2008 Published online: 22 January 2009

To compare the efficacy and safety of nifedipine sustained release

with Ginkgo biloba extract to treat patients with primary Raynaud’s

phenomenon in South Korea; Korean Raynaud study (KOARA study)

Whan-Seok Choi1, Chang-Jin Choi1, Kyung-Soo Kim1, Jae-Ho Lee1,

Chan-Hee Song1, Ju-Hye Chung1, Sun-Myeoung Ock1, Jung-Bok Lee2 and

Chul-Min Kim1

(1) Department of Family Medicine, Catholic University, Seoul, Korea

(2) Institute of Human Genomic Study, Korea University, Seoul, Korea

Abstract This study examined the efficacy and safety of nifedipine

sustained release (nifedipine SR) compared with Ginkgo biloba extract

as treatment for primary Raynaud’s phenomenon (RP) in Korea. Primary

RP were screened and assigned to either the nifedipine SR group (Group

N) or the Ginkgo biloba extract group (Group G) in the ratio of 2:1.

After a run-in period of 2 weeks, patients received treatment for 8

weeks. We observed the percent improvement of the RP attack rate

between before and after the 8-week treatment. Ninety-three subjects

were randomly assigned. The percent improvement in Group N was 50.1%

at 8 weeks after treatment, while it was 31.0% in Group G (p = 0.03).

No serious adverse events occurred, and almost adverse events were

mild and improved without specific treatment. nifedipine SR was more

effective than Ginkgo biloba extract for treatment of primary RP in

Korean patients. Both drugs were tolerable with primary RP patients.

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http://www.springerlink.com/content/7358225512386p23/fulltext.html

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