Efficacy of nicergline combined with hyperbaric oxygen treatment on vascular cognitive impairment

Abstract

Objective To investigate the efficacy of nicergoline combined with hyperbaric oxygen treatment on vascular cognitive impairment. Methods 120 patients with vascular cognitive impairment were randomly divided into 3 treatment groups: nicergoline, hyperbaric oxygen, and both treatment (n=40, each) for 8 weeks. Mini-mental state examination (MMSE), Wechsler memory scale (WMS) and activities of daily living scale (ADL) were used as assessing items. The efficacy of treatment in each group was evaluated. Results There were no significant differences in clinical data among the three groups(χ2 = 0.324, t=0.265 and 0.861, P=0.764, 0.784 and 0.386). After 8 weeks of intervention, scores of MMSE, WMS and ADL were significantly improved in the combined treatment groups compared with pre-treatment (all P<0.01), and the improvements were observed in nicergoline group (all P<0.05), while only MMSE and ADL were improved in hyperbaric oxygen group (both P<0.05). There were significant differences in scores of MMSE, WMS and ADL between combination therapy group and nicergoline group, hyperbaric oxygen group after treatment (all P<0.05). But only MMSE had significant difference between nicergoline group and hyperbaric oxygen group after treatment. No significant side effects were observed in the three groups. Conclusions Combination treatment of nicergline and hyperbaric oxygen has better efficacy on vascular cognitive impairment. It can markedly improve the activities of daily living and cognitive function without significant side effects, which is worthy of application in clinical medicine. Key words: Nicergoline; Hyperbaric oxygenation; Congnition disorders