Abstract
Purpose :
To investigate the influence of different kinds of electrical stimulation in controlling involuntary oscillations of the congenital nystagmus patients' eyes,in order to provide a new treatment for congenital nystagmus patients.
Methods :
We enrolled 6 patients with CN (all of whom had been diagnosed with a mutation in FERM domain containing 7 (FRMD7)). Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) electrodes mimicking an ocular muscle stimulator were placed such that they encircled both the lateral and medial recti of the right eye. Ocular muscles received different levels of energy stimulation based on each patient’s clinical data. Preoperative and postoperative clinical data were recorded for both eyes, including nystagmus amplitude, nystagmus frequency and foveation time. Repeated measures analysis of variance was used to assess the study data.
Results :
After stimulation, decreases in both mean nystagmus frequency (2.75±0.53 Hz vs. 4.27±1.81 Hz, P<0.05) and mean nystagmus amplitude (1.46±1.31° vs. 3.02±2.44°, P<0.05) were observed. Mean foveation time was 0.12±0.13 ms before stimulation but was prolonged to 0.37±0.24 ms after stimulation (P<0.05). All 3 of these main clinical efficacy indices varied with different stimulation parameters. No adverse effects were observed.
Conclusions :
The electrical stimulation of ocular muscles is a novel reversible therapeutic option for effectively diminishing involuntary oscillations of CN by minimizing the side effects of traditional surgical therapy.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2018 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 29 - May 3, 2018.