Firouzehfereydouni

Biography

To evaluate the effect of acupuncture therapy on visual function of patients with retinitis-pigmentosa (RP). Methods In a prospective study, 23 RP subjects received ten sessions of body-acupuncture. Pre and post-treatment evaluations included best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA), near visual acuity (NVA), and static 30-2 perimetry. Results UCVA, BCVA, and NVA improvements after acupuncture therapy were statistically and clinically significant (P = 0.048, P = 0.0005, P = 0.002, respectively). The changes of mean foveal threshold (MFT) and mean deviation (MD) were statistically significant (P = 0.031, P = 0.02). There were no statistically significant difference between different age group and genders. Subjective symptoms of improvement were seen in most of cases. Conclusion Future studies are needed to show the effect of acupuncture therapy on visual function of patients with RP.

Research Interest

Retinitis-pigmentosa (RP) with a prevalence of one in 3000–5000 individuals, is a retinal dystrophy that leads to permanent visual dysfunction. Several treatment modalities have been evaluated, however, no treatment has proved useful. Acupuncture is a convenient, effective, and simple part of traditional Chinese medicine that has few side effects.Acupuncture has been used to treat a wide variety of eye diseasesBasic science, clinical research, and RP patients' self-reports support the hypothesis that acupuncture may improve visual function. The goal of this project was to determine whether it would support the hypothesis that visual function can improve after treatment with a standardized acupuncture protocol. Methods This was a prospective, interventional case series study of 23 RP subjects. Each subject received ten sessions of body acupuncture. Pre and post-treatment evaluations included best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA), near visual acuity (NVA) (Bailey–Lovie chart), and Swedish Interactive Threshold Algorithm (SITA) standard static 30-2 perimetry (Humphrey perimeter). All patients were evaluated by an experienced retina specialist. The symptoms, signs, and electroretinogram (ERG) findings in the patients met the usual definitions of RP. The subjects had no previous history of acupuncture and BCVA better than 1 logMAR. Subjects discontinued taking any nutritional supplements, under the supervision of a specialist ophthalmologist, at least one month before the beginning of acupuncture sessions. An interview was conducted at the beginning of each post-treatment follow-up visit by a simple four-choice (no improvement, a little, moderate improvement, very) questionnaire to determine subjective changes in visual function (night, light, distance and near activities, and central and peripheral vision). Post-intervention evaluations were taken 7–10 days after the last session of acupuncture to eliminate the psychological effects of treatment. The acupuncture prescription was: Si Bai, Yin-Tang, Feng-Chi, Yu-Yao, Guang-Ming, Yang-Lao, Tai-Chong, Shen-Ting, Qu-Chi, Xue-Hai, Ganshu, Shenshu  Informed consent was obtained. To evaluate the effect of acupuncture therapy on visual function of patients with retinitis-pigmentosa (RP). Methods In a prospective study, 23 RP subjects received ten sessions of body-acupuncture. Pre and post-treatment evaluations included best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA), near visual acuity (NVA), and static 30-2 perimetry.