Chinese Herbal Medicine May Have Delayed Benefit in Stroke

Chinese Herbal Medicine May Have Delayed Benefit in Stroke

VIENNA, Austria — Long-term follow-up of a trial investigating a Chinese herbal supplement in patients with stroke suggests there may be some benefit after 6 to 18 months.

The Chinese Medicine NeuroAiD Efficacy on Stroke Recovery (CHIMES) study was an international randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial of 3 months of treatment with the herbal supplement NeuroAiD (Moleac) started within 72 hours of symptom onset in 1100 patients with ischemic stroke.

The primary results, which were reported in 2013, showed a trend toward better functional outcomes in the treated group at 3 months, but this did not reach statistical significance.

Longer-term follow-up in the CHIMES-E (Extension) study, which reported outcomes up to 2 years in 880 patients, was reported by Narayanaswamy Venketasubramanian, MD, from the Raffles Neuroscience Centre, Singapore, here at the 24th European Stroke Conference (ESC).

"While the benefits of a 3-month treatment with NeuroAiD did not reach statistical significance for the primary endpoint at 2 years, the odds of functional independence defined as [modified Rankin Scale score] ≤ 1 was significantly increased at 6 months and persisted up to 18 months after a stroke," he concluded.

The results were also published online April 22 in Cerebrovascular Diseases.

The CHIMES-E study population had an overall mean age of 61.8 years, with 318 (36%) women, and a mean baseline National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score of 8.6. The treatment and placebo groups were balanced in baseline characteristics at the time of inclusion in CHIMES, and they were similar in terms of subsequent rehabilitation and intake of any Chinese herbal medicines during the study, the researchers state.

The primary endpoint of the extended follow-up study was the shift analysis on the modified Rankin Scale at 2 years. This was not significant but showed a trend toward benefit with NeuroAiD (odds ratio, 1.08; 95% confidence interval, 0.85 - 1.37; P = .543).

Source of the report is here.