Use of Gou-Teng to Treat Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment

Mild Cognitive Impairment Clinical Trial

Official title: Efficacy of Uncaria Rhynchophylla (Gou-Teng) for Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial Using White Matter Hyperintensities Estimated by ARIA as Outcome

Status Recruiting

Clinical Trial Summary

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a pre-dementia condition commonly occurs in elderly people. As Hong Kong has become an aged society, the prevalence of dementia and MCI in Hong Kong has increased substantially in recent decades. To date, no effective pharmacological therapies are available for MCI, and there exists a need for exploring complementary treatment for this age-related condition. Preclinical studies have identified Uncaria rhynchophylla (Gouteng in Chinese) to have promising neuroprotective effect in Alzheimer's disease experimental models.

Objective: To assess the effectiveness and the safety of oral administration of Uncaria rhynchophylla for MCI in older people in Hong Kong.

Study design: This is a double-blinded, randomized, placebo controlled pilot study. 56 patients with MCI will be randomized into two groups i.e. Uncaria rhynchophylla and placebo groups. All subjects will receive treatment twice a day for a consecutive 16 weeks.

Clinical Trial Description

It is hypothesized that U. rhynchophylla may have good therapeutic efficacy for the treatment of MCI. However, up to now, there exists no clinical data to support the use of U.rhynchophylla for MCI. To evaluate the efficacy of U. rhynchophylla for MCI, the investigator will use a fully automatic retinal image analysis (ARIA) method to estimate the WMH and use this as one of the outcome measures.

The aim of this pilot study is to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of a Chinese herbal preparation U. rhynchophylla for subjects with mild cognitive impairment. It is hypothesized that treatment with U. rhynchophylla is able to significantly improve the cognitive function of subjects with MCI and reduce the white matter hyperintensities (WMH) in the brain of these subjects.

All eligible subjects will be randomly assigned to receive a treatment of either Uncaria rhynchophylla or placebo for 16 weeks followed by 8 weeks observation. All subjects, both of the intervention and control group, will receive standard routine care from the conventional healthcare system. ;

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Cognitive Dysfunction
• Mild Cognitive Impairment
• White Matter Hyperintensity

• NCT number: NCT04532697
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Contact: Mei Kwan Lai
• Phone: 39433505
• Email: athenalmk@cuhk.edu.hk
• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: November 24, 2020
• Completion date: September 30, 2022