Original article
Prospective Evaluation of Acupuncture as Treatment for Glaucoma

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajo.2015.04.033Get rights and content

Purpose

To evaluate acupuncture as treatment for glaucoma.

Design

Prospective double-masked randomized crossover study.

Methods

setting: Clinical practice. population: One eye per patient with primary open-angle glaucoma and stable intraocular pressure (IOP). intervention: Patients were randomized to receive 1 acupuncture series (12 sessions with either eye-related [eye-points] or non-eye-related [non-eye-points] acupoints) and then crossed over to receive the other series. outcome measures: IOP, blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), visual field (VF), optic disc and peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) measurements, compliance, and adverse reactions. Probability to detect 3 mm Hg IOP difference between series was 90%.

Results

Twenty-two patients volunteered and 11 (50.0%) completed the study; 8 (36.4%) did not complete treatment owing to changes of health, moving away, lack of transportation, or family crisis; and 3(13.6%) were withdrawn owing to needle sensitivity or IOP elevation (8 mm Hg) in the contralateral eye. After an acupuncture session, mean IOP increased slightly with both eye-points (from 12.9 ± 1.8 mm Hg to 13.6 ± 2.0 mm Hg, P = .019) and non-eye-points (from 13.0 ± 1.5 mm Hg to 13.5 ± 1.7 mm Hg, P = .073) series. HR, diurnal IOP, and BCVA showed no statistically significant changes after 12 sessions of either series. Systolic and diastolic BP were reduced after 12 sessions of non-eye-points series (P = .040, P = .002, respectively). Optic disc, RNFL, and VF showed no statistically significant changes.

Conclusions

Acupuncture has no overall effect on diurnal IOP or BCVA but may temporally increase the IOP immediately after a treatment session. BP is lowered by acupuncture with non-eye-points, but not with eye-points. Compliance and adverse event rates were low.

Section snippets

Methods

This was a prospective, double-masked, randomized crossover comparative study approved by the Institutional Review Board of the University of California Los Angeles. The study was conducted according to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki and all applicable HIPAA rules. Informed consent was obtained from subjects prior to screening and study enrollment. Flyers explaining the nature of the study were available to patients who visited the Glaucoma Division of the Stein Eye Institute.

Results

Twenty-two glaucoma patients volunteered to participate in the study and 11 patients (50.0%) completed the study. Eight patients (36.4%) did not complete the study; 2 of the 8 patients had changes in their health unrelated to glaucoma or acupuncture, 2 of the 8 moved away, 3 had problems with transportation during the study, and 1 had a family crisis. An additional 3 patients (13.6%) were withdrawn from the study by one of the investigators owing to needle sensitivity (2 patients) and to

Discussion

In this prospective, randomized, double-masked crossover study, acupuncture therapy was associated with a small increase in IOP immediately following 1 treatment session. There was, however, no sustained effect on diurnal IOP from 12 acupuncture treatment sessions (the eye-points or non-eye-points). We also found that immediately after non-eye-point sessions systolic BP and HR decreased, and that the effects on systolic BP were sustained after 12 sessions of non-eye-point treatment. No

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