Efficacy of rivastigmine in comparison to ginkgo for treating Alzheimer's dementia.

OBJECTIVES To assess the efficacy of the Ginkgo biloba in patients with dementia of the Alzheimer type in slowing down the disease's degenerative progression and the patients' cognitive impairment compared with rivastigmine. METHODS Total 56 patients aged 50-75 years, suffering from dementia, were allocated into one of the two treatments: group 1) Ginkgo biloba (120 mg daily dose); group 2) rivastigmine (4.5 mg daily dose) in a 24-week randomized double blind study. The degree of severity of dementia was assessed by the Seven Minute test and the Mini-Mental State Examination. RESULTS Our results confirm the clinical efficacy of rivastigmine in the dementia of the Alzheimer type, comparing to Ginkgo biloba. There are few published trials that have directly compared a cholinesterase inhibitor with Ginkgo for dementia. This study directly compares a cholinesterase inhibitor with Ginkgo biloba for dementia of the Alzheimer type. CONCLUSION Our study suggests that there are differences in the efficacy of Ginkgo biloba and rivastigmine in the treatment of Alzheimer's dementia. In addition, this study suggested that cholinesterase inhibitors should be used in preference to Ginkgo biloba in patients with mild to moderate AD.