Correspondence: Jian Qiu (qj19691110@126.com)Ginkgo leaf extract and dipyridamole injection (GLED), a kind of Chinese herbal medicine preparation, has been considered as a promising supplementary treatment for chronic cor pulmonale (CCP). Although an analysis of the published literature has been performed, the exact effects and safety of GLED have yet to be systematically investigated. Therefore, a wide-ranging systematic search of electronic databases from which to draw conclusions was conducted. All randomized controlled trials concerning the GLED plus conventional treatments for CCP were selected in the present study. Main outcomes were treatment efficacy, blood gas and hemorrheology indexes, and adverse events. Data from 28 trials with 2457 CCP patients were analyzed. The results indicated that, compared with conventional treatments alone, the combination of conventional treatments with GLED obviously improved the markedly effective rate (RR = 1.44, 95% CI = 1.31-1.58, P < 0.00001) and total effective rate (RR = 1.28, 95% CI = 1.18-1.38, P < 0.00001). Moreover, the hemorrheology (PaO 2 , P < 0.00001; PaCO 2 , P < 0.00001; SaO 2 , P < 0.00001; pH value, P = 0.05) and blood gas indexes (PV, WBHSV, WBMSV, WBLSV, hematocrit and FBG, P < 0.01) of CCP patients were also significantly ameliorated after the combined therapy. The frequency of adverse events did not differ significantly between the two groups (P > 0.05). In summary, evidence from the meta-analysis suggested that the combination of conventional treatments and GLED appeared to be effective and relatively safe for CCP. Therefore, GLED mediated therapy could be recommended as an adjuvant treatment for CCP.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.