The action of dihydroergotoxine in acute sickling crisis. Results of a double-blind study carried out in French-speaking Africa

A double-blind multicentre study was undertaken in French-speaking African countries, using parallel series in 34 SC homozygous or double-heterozygous subjects suffering from vasculo-occlusive sickling crisis. In the patients treated with dihydroergotoxine, there was a reduction in the duration of the episodes by 43 hours, i.e. more than one quarter of the total duration. This decrease was statistically significant (p < 0.05).