Cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) is prevalent in the aging population with insidious onset, almost affecting all levels of the brain vasculature, and challenges the social and healthcare system worldwide. CSVD is the major cause of 25% of strokes and more than doubles the odds of recurrent stroke; furthermore, it contributes to 45% of dementia cases and to global functional decline. However, an incomplete understanding of the pathogenesis of CSVD limits prevention and treatment efforts.~Cerebralcare Granule (CG) or Yangxue Qingnao granule, is a polyherbal medicine that was approved in 1997 by the China State Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of headaches and dizziness associated with cerebrovascular diseases. Cerebralcare pill is composed of 11 herbs. These herbs contain small molecules with various pharmacological actions. Cerebralcare pills have the same component as CG. Previous studies have demonstrated that CG significantly attenuated ischemia-reperfusion induced dysfunction, structural abnormalities in the microcirculation, and inflammatory injury. There are also studies confirming that CG also improved cognition function, improved cerebral microcirculation disorders, and hemodynamics.~Patients enrolled will be randomly assigned to either the treatment or control group to receive Brain Pill/Brain Pill placebo (from randomization to 6 months at a dose of 2 packs per day). Face-to-face interviews will be conducted at baseline, day 90, day 180, and 1 year after randomization.~The primary endpoint is the progression in cognition function which is assessed by Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) score. The secondary endpoints include changes in clinical characters, imaging markers (number and volume of white matter, number of lacunes, microbleeds, enlarged perivascular space ), hemodynamic parameters, Chinese medical symptoms, blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability, proteomics, and inflammatory markers. The safety endpoints include severe hemorrhage events, symptomatic and asymptomatic intracranial hemorrhage, moderate hemorrhage, overall mortality, and serious adverse events.
This is a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, multicenter trial. Cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) patients will be diagnosed by Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and randomized into treatment or control groups. The purpose of this trial is to assess the efficacy of cerebralcare pills on cerebral small vessel disease.