Abstract
Purpose: :
Early treatment options in prevention of diabetic retinopathy are rare. An alternative therapy could probably be found in acupuncture. Aim of the study was to evaluate the affect of acupuncture on ocular microcirculation and to detect differences in vascular regulation.
Methods: :
Acupuncture was carried out in 6 healthy volunteers with normal values of diabetes oral glucose tolerance test and 6 with pathological values in testing but not in necessity of systemic diabetic therapy. Ocular microcirculation was examined before, during and after acupuncture treatment by analysing vascular reaction with Retinal Vessel Analyzer and Ocular Blood Flow.
Results: :
In both treated groups results of RVA showed a tendency for vasoconstriction (healthy: 114,8/113,7 p=0,822, diabetics: 110,8/108,4 p=0,402) and venous dilatation (healthy: 144,9/148,1 p=0,166, diabetics: 165,6/171,9 p=0,066) without statistic significance. There is no statistic significant difference between groups in arterial p=0,623 or venous reaction p=0,05. In both groups IOP decreased (healthy: 15,5mmHg/12,7mmHg p=0,293, diabetics: 15,1mmHg/12,7mmHg p=0,015). There was a lower ocular blood flow in diabetics (14,1 ul/sec versus 22,2 ul/sec p=0,990) with a tendency of increase after acupuncture without statistic significance.
Conclusions: :
Both, healthy volunteers and early manifest diabetics with glucose intolerance showed a vascular reaction after acupuncture with arterial vasoconstriction and venous dilatation. Tendency of decreasing in IOP and improving in OBF are hints of improving ocular microcirculation after acupuncture. Testing of bigger cohorts is necessary. Early manifest diabetics have a comparable vascular reaction on acupuncture as healthy subjects. Vascular autoregulation gets lost with diabetic progression, testing of different diabetic stages is necessary to detect these vascular dysregulations.
Clinical Trial: :
www.clinicaltrials.gov NCT01022177