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Oral vasodilators for primary Raynaud's phenomenon.
1Møre and Romsdal County, Department of Health and Social Services, Fylkeshusa, Molde, Norway, 6407. bergljot.vinjar@nesset.post.no
The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
|April 22, 2008
Summary
This review found limited evidence that vasodilator drugs effectively treat primary Raynaud's phenomenon, with most studies showing poor quality and no significant benefits for common treatments.
Area of Science:
- Pharmacology
- Vascular Medicine
- Clinical Trials
Background:
- Primary Raynaud's phenomenon has limited effective pharmacological treatments beyond calcium channel blockers.
- Evidence for alternative drug therapies remains scarce.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the efficacy of various vasodilator drugs for symptomatic treatment of primary Raynaud's phenomenon.
- To review randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of oral vasodilator formulations.
Main Methods:
- Systematic search of multiple databases (Cochrane, MEDLINE, EMBASE) and trial registries up to July 2007.
- Inclusion of RCTs evaluating oral vasodilators for primary Raynaud's phenomenon, excluding calcium channel blockers.
- Data extraction and quality assessment by two authors, including adverse events.
Main Results:
- Eight low-quality RCTs with 290 participants were analyzed.
- Enalapril showed a non-significant trend towards increased attack frequency.
- Buflomedil and moxisylyte demonstrated some effect on attack frequency, but not severity.
- No evidence of efficacy for captopril, beraprost, dazoxiben, or ketanserin.
- Beraprost and moxisylyte were associated with more adverse effects.
Conclusions:
- The overall evidence for vasodilator drugs in primary Raynaud's phenomenon is limited due to poor study quality and small sample sizes.
- Current data suggests no definitive evidence for the effectiveness of these alternative vasodilator agents.
- Further high-quality research is needed to clarify the role of specific vasodilator drugs.
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