Trial reportInternational journal of medical sciences2012
Donepezil combined with natural hirudin improves the clinical symptoms of patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease: a 20-week open-label pilot study.
Trial report in International journal of medical sciences, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- Hirudin as a Therapeutic and Brain-Delivery Platform: From Stroke to Central Nervous System Disorders.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Role of Thrombosis in Neurodegenerative Diseases: An Intricate Mechanism of Neurovascular Complications.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Review
- Review
- Dysregulated haemostasis in thrombo-inflammatory disease.Clinical science (London, England : 1979) · 2022Review
- Direct Oral Anticoagulants (DOACs) for Therapeutic Targeting of Thrombin, a Key Mediator of Cerebrovascular and Neuronal Dysfunction in Alzheimer's Disease.Biomedicines · 2022Review
- Hirudin promotes proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of HBMSCs via activation of cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP)/protein kinase-G (PKG) signaling pathway.Bioengineered · 2022Article
- Alzheimer's Disease-Rationales for Potential Treatment with the Thrombin Inhibitor Dabigatran.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Review
- Role of Thrombin in Central Nervous System Injury and Disease.Biomolecules · 2021Review
- The efficacy and safety of Hirudin plus Aspirin versus Warfarin in the secondary prevention of Cardioembolic Stroke due to Nonvalvular Atrial Fibrillation: A multicenter prospective cohort study.International journal of medical sciences · 2021Observational
- Short-term treatment with dabigatran alters protein expression patterns in a late-stage tau-based Alzheimer's disease mouse model.Biochemistry and biophysics reports · 2020Article
- Thrombin, a Mediator of Coagulation, Inflammation, and Neurotoxicity at the Neurovascular Interface: Implications for Alzheimer's Disease.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2020Review
- Hirudin ameliorates immunoglobulin A nephropathy by inhibition of fibrosis and inflammatory response.Renal failure · 2019Article
- Anti-atherosclerotic effects between a combined treatment with simvastatin plus hirudin and single simvastatin therapy in patients with early type 2 diabetes mellitus.Annals of translational medicine · 2019Article
- The Importance of Thrombin in Cerebral Injury and Disease.International journal of molecular sciences · 2016Review
- Donepezil is ineffective in promoting motor and cognitive benefits after controlled cortical impact injury in male rats.Journal of neurotrauma · 2013Article
- Thrombin, a mediator of cerebrovascular inflammation in AD and hypoxia.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2013Article
- Behavioral symptoms related to cognitive impairment.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2013Review
- Atrial Fibrillation and Risk of Dementia/Cognitive Decline.Journal of atrial fibrillationReview
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
aimTo evaluate the efficacy and safety of donepezil plus natural hirudin in patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's Disease.
methodsIn the 20-week, randomized, open-label and controlled study, 84 patients received either donepezil (5 mg/day for the first 4 weeks and 10 mg/day thereafter) or donepezil plus natural hirudin (3 g/day) treatment. Efficacy was reflected by the change of the total scores of Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale cognitive subscale (ADAS-Cog), Activities of Daily Life (ADL) and Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI).
resultsThe patients with the donepezil plus natural hirudin treatment showed more significant improvement in the daily activities and the decline of the cognition than those with donepezil treatment. Significant difference was present in the groups since the 8th week. No group difference was found in the NPI change. However, within the hirudin treatment group, more powerful efficacy including NPI assessment was found in the patients with vascular risk factors (VRF) as comparing to with those without VRF. The combination of donepezil and natural hirudin was well tolerated. The dropout rate was greater in the donepezil and natural hirudin (50%) treatment group than in the donepezil (39%) treatment group. Similar result was found in the incidence of adverse events (23.8% vs 19.0%), but there was no statistical difference between the two groups. Adverse events were the most common reason for the dropout. Although hemorrhage and hypersensitiveness were more common in donepezil plus Maixuekang treatment (11.9% and 7.1%) group than in donepezil treatment (2.4% and 2.4%) group, no significant difference was present between the two groups. Economic problem was another important reason for the patients' withdrawal.
conclusionsCompared with the donepezil treatment in the patients with mild-to-moderate AD, our results suggest that donepezil combined with natural hirudin may improve the treatment effects in the ADL, BPSD and cognition of the patients. Furthermore, this joint treatment is safe.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.