Transcorneal Electrical Stimulation in Patients with Retinal Artery Occlusion: A Prospective, Randomized, Sham-Controlled Pilot Study

• Published in: Ophthalmology and therapy 2013-06, Vol.2 (1), p.25-39
• Main Authors: Naycheva, Lubka, Schatz, Andreas, Willmann, Gabriel, Bartz-Schmidt, Karl Ulrich, Zrenner, Eberhart, Röck, Tobias, Gekeler, Florian
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Internal Medicine; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Ophthalmology; Original Research
• ISSN: 2193-8245; 2193-6528
• DOI: 10.1007/s40123-013-0012-5

ABSTRACT Introduction The purpose of this study was to investigate the safety and efficacy of transcorneal electrical stimulation (TES) in patients suffering from retinal artery occlusion (RAO). Methods Twelve patients with central and one patient with branch RAO (age 25–84 years, median 74 years) were enrolled in this prospective, randomized, sham-controlled study. RAO was diagnosed 10 days to 17 months prior to study participation. Patients were treated with TES (5 ms positive followed by 5 ms negative biphasic pulses at 20 Hz; applied with DTL electrodes) for 30 min once a week for 6 consecutive weeks. Patients were randomly assigned to TES with 0 mA (sham, n  = 3), 66% ( n  = 5) or 150% ( n  = 5) of the patient’s individual electrical phosphene threshold (EPT) at 20 Hz. Best corrected visual acuity, ophthalmology examination and EPT (at 3, 6, 9, 20, 40, 60, and 80 Hz) were determined at baseline and at eight follow-up visits over 17 weeks. During four visits (week 1, 5, 9, and 17) kinetic and static visual fields as well as full-field and multifocal electroretinography were measured. The method of restricted maximum likelihood ( P