Evaluation of efficacy and safety of gandouling plus sodium dimercaptosulphonate in treatment of patients with neurological Wilson's disease from China

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of gandouling plus sodium dimercaptosulphonate (DMPS) on neurological Wilson's disease (WD) in patients.

METHODS

We retrospectively evaluated the clinical records of 125 WD patients with neurological syndromes who were treated with gandouling plus sodium DMPS or DMPS used alone. All patients had a history of neurological deterioration during their diseases courses. The clinical efficacies, adverse reactions, and results of the various hematological and biochemical investigations were recorded for statistical analysis.

RESULTS

92.30% (60 patients) of the WD patients treated with the combined therapy experienced an improved or stable neurological condition paralleled by a significantly improved GAS score. Meanwhile, the WBC and PLT counts stabilized, liver function and renal function were improved or remained stable. The combined therapy also obviously promoted the 24-h urinary copper excretion. In particular, only 30.76% of the WD patients experienced mild adverse reactions, including neurological deterioration in 5 patients (7.69%), hepatic worsening in 1 subject (1.89%), which was less frequently than those in the control group treated with DMPS only.

CONCLUSION

Our findings indicate that the safety and efficacy of gandou-ling plus DMPS is superior to those of DMPS used alone in the WD patients with neurological symptoms.