From: Systematic reviews of complementary therapies – an annotated bibliography. Part 2: Herbal medicine
Features | |||||||
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Author Year | Indication | Intervention | Comparisons | Studies | 1/2/3/ | Results | Author's Conclusion |
4/5 | |||||||
Ginkgo ( Ginkgo biloba ) | |||||||
Pittler 2000 | intermittent | ginkgo | placebo | 8 RCT | y/y/y/ | Increase of pain-free walking | Evidence for a modest benefit of |
[7] | claudication | y/y | distance over placebo after 12 | uncertain clinical relevance | |||
or 24 weeks 34 m (95%CI 26– | |||||||
43 m) | |||||||
Moher 2000 | intermittent | ginkgo* | placebo | 5 RCT | y/y/y/ | Increase of pain-free walking | Inconsistent results from the few |
[8] | claudication | n/y | distance over placebo after 24 | available small studies do not | |||
weeks 32 m (95%CI 14–50 m) | allow firm conclusions | ||||||
Ernst 96 [9] | intermittent | ginkgo | placebo, | 10 | p/ p/ n/ | Most studies low quality. | Available evidence promising but |
claudication | extract | other drugs | RCT/CCT | n/n | Increase of walking distance | further high quality research | |
EGb761 | compared to placebo 24 to 160 | needed | |||||
m. At least similar | |||||||
effectiveness compared to | |||||||
other drugs. | |||||||
Schneider 92 | intermittent | ginkgo | placebo, | 7 RCT/CCT | ?/n/n/ | mean effect size d = 0.75 | Effectiveness over placebo clearly |
[10] | claudication | other | (vs. plac.), 2 | y/y | (95%CI 0.44–1.07) over | shown | |
treatment | RCT/CCT | placebo | |||||
(other) | |||||||
Letzel 92 | intermittent | ginkgo | ginkgo vs. | 5 RCT | ?/p/n/ | Pooled increase of walking | Ginkgo extract EGb761 more |
[11] | claudication | extract | plac., | ginkgo | y/y | distance: 45% over placebo for | effective than placebo and |
EGb 761 | pentoxifyllin | 9 RCT | gingko and 57% for | similarly effective as pentoxifyllin | |||
vs. plac. | pentoxifyllin | pentoxifyllin | |||||
Kleijnen 91 | intermittent | ginkgo | ginkgo vs. | 15 | y/y/y/ | Many trials low quality. All trials | Ginkgo seems effective for |
[12] | claudication | plac., | RCT/CCT | n/n | with positive results. Evidence | intermittent claudication but further | |
pentoxifyllin | (ginkgo), 5 | similar as for pentoxifyllin | high quality studies are needed | ||||
vs. placebo | RCT/CCT | ||||||
pentoxif. | |||||||
Weiss 91 | cerebral ins., | ginkgo | placebo | 17RCT/CCT | ?/p/p/ | 10 of 12 interpretable trials on | Effectiveness for both conditions |
[13] | intermittent | extract | (cerebral | n/n | cerebral insufficieny and all 4 | biometrically shown | |
claudication | EGb761 | ins.), 8 | interpretable trials on | ||||
RCT/CCT | intermittent claudication with | ||||||
significant positive results | |||||||
Ernst 99 [14] | dementia | ginkgo | placebo | 9 RCT | y/y/y/ | Results collectively suggest | Encouraging findings warranting |
y/n | that ginkgo is more effective for | large scale trials | |||||
dementia than placebo | |||||||
Oken 98 [15] | Alzheimer | ginkgo | placebo | 4 RCT | y/y/n/ | Significant effect over placebo | Clinical relevance of the observed |
dementia | y/y | for cognitive function (Hedges | effects has to be confirmed in | ||||
g= 0.41, 95%CI 0.22–0.61) | further research | ||||||
Hopfenmüller | cerebral | ginkgo | placebo | 10 RCT, 1 | n/ n/ n/ | Global response (based on | Ginkgo extract superior to placebo |
94 [16] | insufficiency | extract LI | CCT | y/y | symptom scores): OR 1.98 | ||
1370 | (95%C11.39–2.57) in favour of | ||||||
Ginkgo | |||||||
Kleijnen 92 | cerebral | ginkgo | ginkgo vs. | 40 RCT/ | y/y/y/ | Many trials low quality. Virtually | Ginkgo seems effective for |
[17] | insufficiency | plac. | CCT | n/n | all trials reported positive | cerebral insufficiency but further | |
hydergine | (ginkgo), 4 | results. Evidence similar as for | high quality studies are needed | ||||
vs. plac. | RCT/CCT | hydergine | |||||
(hydergine) | |||||||
Ernst 99 [18] | tinnitus | ginkgo | placebo, | 5 RCT | y/y/y/ | 3 trials favour ginkgo over | Results suggest that extracts of |
other | y/n | placebo, 1 no difference, in one | ginkgo biloba are effective in | ||||
treatment (1 | trial ginkgo better than another | treating tinnitus | |||||
trial) | treatment | ||||||
Evans 2000 | macular | ginkgo | placebo | 1 RCT | y/y/y/ | one small trial reporting | Insufficient evidence to |
[19] | degeneration | y/- | improvement | recommend ginkgo for age-related | |||
macular degeneration |