Ginkgo biloba for the Treatment of Vitiligo vulgaris: An Open Label Pilot Clinical Trial

• Main Author: Szczurko, Orest
• Other Authors: Boon, Heather
• Language: en_ca
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: vitiligo; Ginkgo biloba; 0566; 0419
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1807/25816

Objective: To conduct an open label clinical pilot trial using Ginkgo biloba in the treatment of vitiligo in Toronto to test the feasibility of recruitment, patient retention, variability of outcome measures, identify safety concerns, and magnitude of treatment effect ahead of a full randomized clinical trial. Methods: 12 participants 12 to 35 years old were recruited to a prospective nonrandomized open-label pilot trial and treated with 60 mg of standardized G. biloba BID for 12 weeks. The primary outcome was the validated Vitiligo European Task Force (VETF). Secondary outcomes included the Vitiligo Area Scoring Index (VASI), photographs, and adverse reactions. Results: Ingestion of Ginkgo biloba was associated with a trend towards improvement on VETF measures of vitiligo lesion area and staging, and significant improvement in VETF spread and total VASI vitiligo measures. Conclusions: By achieving full recruitment, showing benefit, and indicating no adverse reactions the pilot study shows that a future RCT is feasible.