Supervised exercise training combined with ginkgo biloba treatment for patients with peripheral arterial disease

To evaluate whether a combination of supervised exercise training and ginkgo biloba treatment is a better treatment than exercise training alone for patients with peripheral arterial disease.

A 24-week double-blind, placebo-controlled ginkgo biloba trial with the first 12-week period as a non-exercise control stage and the second 12-week period as an exercise training stage.

Exercise physiology laboratory.

Twenty-two subjects with peripheral arterial disease.

The subjects were randomly allocated into a ginkgo or a placebo group. During the first stage, the ginkgo group ingested standardized ginkgo biloba tablets with a daily dosage of 240 mg, while the placebo group received placebo tablets. During the second stage, all subjects engaged in a supervised treadmill-walking programme while continuing to take the same dosage of ginkgo biloba or placebo tablets.

Walking capacity on treadmill, oxygen consumption during exercise, peripheral haemodynamics and blood viscosity were measured at baseline, and after the first and the second stages of treatment.

The ginkgo group did not show significant changes in most of the measured variables after each stage of treatment, except that the maximal walking time was significantly increased after the combined treatment (from 236 +/- 112 seconds to 557 +/- 130 seconds, P < 0.001). However, similar response was also found in the placebo group after exercise training (from 384 +/- 125 seconds to 820 +/- 146 seconds, P < 0.001).

Supervised exercise training combined with ginkgo biloba treatment did not produce greater beneficial effects than exercise training alone in patients with peripheral arterial disease.