Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography for monitoring the lower tear meniscus in dry eye after acupuncture treatment.

Tong Lin,Xiaoxu Liu,Lan Gong,Xiaopeng Ma

doi:10.1155/2015/492150

Abstract

Dry eye is highly prevalent and has a significant impact on quality of life. Acupuncture was found to be effective to treat dry eye. However, little was known about the effect of acupuncture on different subtypes of dry eye. The objective of this study was to investigate the applicability of tear meniscus assessment by Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography in the evaluation of acupuncture treatment response in dry eye patients and to explore the effect of acupuncture on different subtypes of dry eye compared with artificial tear treatment. A total of 108 dry eye patients were randomized into acupuncture or artificial tear group. Each group was divided into three subgroups including lipid tear deficiency (LTD), Sjögren syndrome dry eye (SSDE), and non-Sjögren syndrome dry eye (Non-SSDE) for data analysis. After 4-week treatment, the low tear meniscus parameters including tear meniscus height (TMH), tear meniscus depth (TMD), and tear meniscus area (TMA) in the acupuncture group increased significantly for the LTD and Non-SSDE subgroups compared with both the baseline and the control groups (all P values < 0.05), but not for the SSDE. Acupuncture provided a measurable improvement of the tear meniscus dimensions for the Non-SSDE and LTD patients, but not for the SSDE patients.

Highlights

Dry eye (DE), a multifactorial disease of the tears and ocular surface, is highly prevalent and has a significant impact on quality of life, affecting 14% to 33% of the adult population worldwide [1]
We investigated the applicability of FD-optical coherence tomography (OCT) tear meniscus assessment in the evaluation of acupuncture treatment response in dry eye patients and explored the effect of acupuncture on different subtypes of dry eye compared with artificial tear treatment
In order to investigate the effect on different subtypes of dry eye, each group was divided into three subgroups including lipid tear deficiency (LTD), Sjogren syndrome dry eye (SSDE), and Non-SSDE for data analysis

Summary

Introduction

Dry eye (DE), a multifactorial disease of the tears and ocular surface, is highly prevalent and has a significant impact on quality of life, affecting 14% to 33% of the adult population worldwide [1]. The integrity of the lacrimal functional unit (LFU) is essential to regulate tear production and clearance and to sustain a sufficient tear volume of appropriate composition to preserve and protect the ocular surface [2]. Disturbance or disease of components of the LFU leads to deficiency or compositional change in tears, which is considered to play an important role in the evolution of different forms of dry eye. Artificial tears, the most frequently used method to treat dry eye, hydrate the eye and provide limited symptomatic relief with preservative-free tears, whereas acupuncture therapy from traditional Chinese medicine appears to be minimally invasive, but it would promote the secretion of tears by the lacrimal gland naturally and independently to provide a sustained relief to dry eye [5,6,7,8]. Multiple studies have supported the use of acupuncture to treat dry eye [5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12], few studies were designed to investigate the effect of acupuncture on different subtypes of dry eye

Objectives

Methods

Findings

Conclusion