Hawthorn (Crataegus) in Heart Failure A review

In addition to conventional treatment protocols for heart failure, which have undergone modifications in the last 15 years, there also exists a tradition for phytotherapeutic preparations from hawthorn. The evidence for this complementary treatment provides the following picture, categorized by the drugs made from different parts of the plant: In a meta-analysis of 8 clinical trials the nowadays more widely known medications from hawthorn leaves and flowers were shown to significantly increase the maximum working load by 7 watt. For patients with NYHA II, the daily dose varied between 160-1800 mg in the different studies and the duration of the studies was from 3-16 weeks. For hawthorn berries preparations, apart from clinical-pharmacological studies, there is one randomised trial of patients with NYHA II that, too, showed a significant increase of the maximum working load of about 8 watt. Tolerability was good for both types of herbal preparations from hawthorn. No adverse interactions have been found in a pharmacokinetic trial with digoxin and combined use with conventional heart medications is possible.