Efficacy and safety of desloratadine combined with dipyridamole in the treatment of chronic urticaria.

Chronic urticaria (CU) imposes profound impairment on patient's quality of life. Our study was done to evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of desloratadine combined with dipyridamole, which is a platelet adhesion inhibitor in the treatment of CU. A randomized study was done in 64 autoimmunity CU patients with positive autologous plasma skin test (APST): 34 patients as treatment and 30 controls. The treatment group was treated with desloratadine and dipyridamole, and the control group was treated with desloratadine only. The efficiency and side-effect were evaluated at the end of treatment. The levels of fragment F(1+2) were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in all patients at pre- and post-treatment. The clinical effectiveness rates of treatment and control group were, respectively, 85.20% (21 cured, 8 obvious effectiveness) and 70% (14 cured, 7 obvious effectiveness); they have a significant difference (x = 4.09, P < 0.05). Before treatment, the weals and pruritus in the treatment and control group were, respectively, (1.74 +/- 0.90, 1.79 +/- 0.73) and (1.67 +/- 0.84, 1.73 +/- 0.78). After treatment, the weals and pruritus in treatment and control group were, respectively, (0.38 +/- 0.73, 0.58 +/- 0.89) and (0.67 +/- 0.96, 1.10 +/- 1.12). These findings provide new insights into the pathogenesis of CU and suggest new therapeutic opportunities for treating this disease.