OBJECTIVE: To introduce the summarization of ginkgo leaf extract in treating senile disease so as to provide references for clinical application and scientific design.DATA SOURCES: A computer-based online search of Tsinghua Full-text Database was undertaken to retrieve articles about ginkgo leaf extract, senile disease and cardio-cerebral vascular disease in Chinese between January 1994 and October 2005, and the key words were ginkgo leaf extract,senium and cardio-cerebral vessels.STUDY SELECTION: All articles were selected firstly in treatment group and control group, those were relevant to nonrandom researches were excluded, and full text of the rest articles was looked up further. Inclusion criteria: ① randomized controlled study; ② experimental or clinical researches including those in parallel control group; ③ studies by using ginkgo leaf extract in treatment group. Exclusion criteria: repetitive investigations.DATA EXTRACTION: The 221 random and nonrandom articles about therapeutical effect of ginkgo leaf extract on senile disease were collected,and 25 animal experiments or clinical investigations were also included.However, among 196 papers, 175 were excluded because of nonrandom or repetitive trials, and 21 because of review papers.DATA SYNTHESIS: There were 1 099 patients and 355 animals in 25 experiments. The research results showed that ginkgo leaf extract could regulate level of lipid and improve resistance of insulin on the aspect of treating diabetes mellitus (DM); effectively improve hypercoagulable state and hemorheological property on the aspect of treating hypertension; increase contents of levarterenol and 5-serotonin, protect cerebral ischemiareperfusion injury through up-regulating expression of Bcl-2 protein and down-regulating expression of Bax protein, and improve hemorheological indexes of patients with cerebral infarction and diabetes mellitus on the aspect of treating cardio-cerebral vascular disease; protect activity of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) enzyme in cerebral tissue, inhibit injured effect of oxygen-derived free radicals on mitochondrial RNA, delay cerebral senility, and improve learning and memory ability of senile rats on the aspect of treating anti-senility and senile dementia. Ginkgo leaf extract has been widely used in treating hypertension, diabetes mellitus, cerebral senility, senile dementia, cardio-cerebral vascular disease, etc., but there are no reports on side events.CONCLUSION: Ginkgo leaf extract is a valuable drug and also has a wonderful prospect in treating senile disease.