Acupuncture for glaucoma

• Published in: Cochrane database of systematic reviews 2020-02, Vol.2 (2), p.CD006030
• Main Authors: Law, Simon K, Wang, Lin, Li, Tianjing
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acupuncture Therapy; Complementary & alternative medicine; Eyes & vision; Glaucoma; Glaucoma - therapy; Humans; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; Treatment Outcome; Visual Acuity
• ISSN: 1469-493X; 1469-493X
• DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD006030.pub4

Glaucoma is a multi-factorial optic neuropathy characterized by an acquired loss of retinal ganglion cells at levels beyond normal age-related loss and corresponding atrophy of the optic nerve. Although many treatments are available to manage glaucoma, patients may seek complementary or alternative medicine approaches such as acupuncture to supplement their regular treatment. The underlying plausibility of acupuncture is that disorders related to the flow of Chi (traditional Chinese concept of vital force or energy) can be managed by stimulating relevant points on the body surface. To assess the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture compared with other treatments, no treatment, or placebo in patients with glaucoma. We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), which contains the Cochrane Eyes and Vision Trials Register (2018, Issue 11); Ovid MEDLINE; Embase.com; the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL); the Allied and Complementary Medicine Database (AMED); PubMed; Latin American and Caribbean Literature on Health Sciences (LILACS); ZETOC; the metaRegister of Controlled Trials (mRCT); ClinicalTrials.gov; the World Health Organization (WHO) International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP); and the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) website. We did not use any language or date restrictions in the search for trials. We last searched electronic databases on November 16, 2018, with the exception of NCCAM, which we last searched on July 14, 2010, and the metaRegister of Controlled Trials (mRCT), which we last searched on January 8, 2013. We handsearched Chinese medical journals at Peking Union Medical College Library in April 2007. We searched the Chinese Acupuncture Trials Register, the Traditional Chinese Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System (TCMLARS), the Chinese Biological Database (CBM), and the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI). We last searched Chinese electronic databases on November 19, 2018. We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in which one arm involved acupuncture treatment. Two review authors independently screened results, then extracted the data and assessed risk of bias for eligible trials. We included three completed trials and one ongoing trial in the 2019 update of this review. The three completed trials, conducted in Taiwan and the United States, included participants with glaucoma or intraocular hypertension. T