[Clinical study of Reinhartdt and sea cucumber capsule combined with donepezil in treating Alzheimer's disease].
OBJECTIVE
To study the efficacy and safety of Reinhartdt and sea cucumber capsule (RSC) combined with donepezil in treating Alzheimer's disease (AD), and its effect on thyroid function axis.


METHODS
Sixty-eight patients were randomly assigned to the RSC group, the Donepezil group and the combined treatment group, who were treated for 3 and 6 months with RSC, Donepezil and RSC combined with Donepezil, respectively. The curative effect was evaluated by scoring according to Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), ADAS-Cog and ADL chart, and the level of thyroid hormones, including TSH, FT3, FT4, TT3 and TT4, were measured with radioimmunoassay before treatment, 3 and 6 months after treatment respectively.


RESULTS
As compared with the baseline, MMSE score increased, ADAS-Cog score and ADL score decreased significantly in all the three groups after 3 months and 6 months of treatment (P < 0.05 and P < 0.01), but the improvement in the combined treatment group was more significant than that in the other two groups (P < 0.01). After 6 months of treatment, the levels of FT3 and FT4 in the combined treatment group were significantly changed (P < 0.01), but no significant change in all the thyroid hormones was found in the other two groups. No obvious adverse reaction occurred in all the three groups.


CONCLUSIONS
RSC combined with Donepezil in treating AD is effective and safe with no evident adverse reaction, better than single drug treatment, which may be through influencing the metabolism of thyroid hormones to improve the cognition function of AD patients.
Zhou
Zhi-Lin
ZL
Department of Neurology, The Third Hospital of Hangzhou City, Zhejiang.
Liang
Li-Zhen
LZ
Yan
Yong-Xing
YX
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000188:drug therapy*; D000818:Animals; D002214:Capsules; D000077265:Donepezil; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007189:Indans / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D008875:Middle Aged; D018697:Nootropic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D010880:Piperidines / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D012616:Sea Cucumbers / Q000737:chemistry*; D013963:Thyroid Hormones / Q000097:blood
D002214:Capsules; D007189:Indans; D018697:Nootropic Agents; D010880:Piperidines; D013963:Thyroid Hormones; D000077265:Donepezil