Raynaud's phenomenon is a disease that causes decreased blood flow and circulation to patients' extremeties. Symptoms include discolouration, pain, and in some severe cases ulceration of the hands and feet. It is most often triggered by cold, stress, and emotional discomfort. Primary Raynaud's phenomenon has no underlying disease associated with it. Secondary Raynaud's phenomenon is most often associated with scleroderma, but may also be related to systemic lupus erythematosus, mixed connective tissue disease, Sjorgen's syndrome, dermatomyositis or rheumatoid arthritis.
Scleroderma is a connective tissue disease causing hardening and commonly affects the skin and internal organs such as the GI tract, lungs, kidney and heart.
One trial which investigated the effect of cyclofenil on 38 patients was included (Blom-Bulow 1981). In general patients treated with Cyclofenil improved more than those treated with placebo, however, these improvements were not statistically significant. Patients treated with cyclofenil reported numerous side effects which in some cases were severe and included an allergic reaction and complications associated with underlying heart conditions.
This review assessed a limited number of studies and therefore the conclusions reached need to be investigated further.