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STUDY DESIGN: Open prospective study. Patients: 20 outpatients with a long history of elevated fibrinogen levels and plasma viscosity, and a variety of underlying diseases. INTERVENTION: Treatment with the special ginkgo biloba extract (EGb 761), 240 mg tablets a day for a period of 12 weeks. RESULTS: The clinical diagnoses included coronary heart disease, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia and diabetes mellitus. A significant improvement in the fibrinogen levels and hemorrheological properties was seen. The medication can thus positively influence these cardiovascular risk factors over the long term.

In a pilot study, fifteen chronically hemodialysed patients with severe hypertriglyceridemia (bigger than 350 mg/dl) received polyunsaturated fatty acids corresponding to 1.26 g/day eicosapentaenoic acid and 0.9 g/day docosahexaenoic acid over a period of six months in addition to their normal diet. At the beginning and after 2,4 and 6 months of fish oil administration, laboratory and hemorheological parameters were determined. Initially, all hemorheological and clinical chemical parameters relevant for lipid metabolism were increased. A decrease in plasma triglyceride, total cholesterol, LDL, VLDL and apoprotein A1 fractions together with an increase in HDL fraction were observed during the fish oil treatment. These significant changes were in well accordance with changes in hemorheological parameters. At the end of the study both the viscous and elastic components of complex viscoelasticity, aggregation index, flexibility index, and viscoelastic phase angle were significantly decreas ed, whereas the plasma viscosity, hematocrit and fibrinogen contents remained unchanged. Total protein and Alphasub2minus macroglobulin contents were also significantly reduced. Parallel measurements showed that during treatment the concentration of the applied Omegaminus3 fatty acids in te red cell membrane increases significantly and that of arachidonic acid decreases. Thus the improvement in flow properties may result from adherence of fatty acids to the phospholipids of te red cell membrane, which leads to a reduction in membrane rigidity and aggregation tendency.