The aim of this study is to examine the short-term effect of visual function\nfollowing acupuncture treatment in patients with congenital idiopathic nystagmus and acquired\nnystagmus (CIN and AN). Methods: An observational pilot study on six patients with confirmed\ndiagnosis of nystagmus (three CIN and three AN patients (2ââ?¢â?¬, 4ââ?¢â??; mean age 42.67; SD Ã?± 20.57 y)),\nwas performed. Acupuncture treatment was done following a standardized protocol applying\nneedle-acupuncture on the body and the ears. The treatment was scheduled with 10 sessions of\n30 min duration over five weeks. To assess the effect of the treatment, we performed before, between,\nand after acupuncture objective measurement of the BCVA (EDTRS charts), contrast vision (CSV-1000,\nVector Vision), nystagmography (Compact Integrated Pupillograph), complemented by evaluation\nquestionnaires. A placebo non-acupuncture control group (Nr: 11, 22 eyes; 8ââ?¢â?¬, 3ââ?¢â??; mean age:\n33.34 y (SD Ã?± 7.33 y)) was taken for comparison. Results: The results showed that, following\nacupuncture treatment, CIN and AN patients showed improvement (SDÃ?± mean) in their binocular\nBCVA (baseline: 0.45 Ã?± 0.36; between: 0.53 Ã?± 0.34 and post-treatment: 0.51 Ã?± 0.28), and in their\nmonocular contrast sensitivity (baseline: 11.29 Ã?± 12.35; between: 11.43 Ã?± 11.45 and post-treatment:\n14.0 Ã?± 12.22). The post-/baseline-difference showed a significant improvement in contrast vision\nand in BCVA for CIN and AN patients, but not for controls (p = 0.029 and p = 0.007, respectively).\nThe effect of the eye showed also, within CIN and AN, significant values for the examined parameters\nin the post-/baseline difference (p = 0.004 and p ââ?°Â¤ 0.001). Evaluated only binocularly, the respective\nbetween-/baseline and post-/baseline difference in the CIN and AN group showed significant values\n(p < 0.045). Two AN patients reported reduction of oscillations. Among general subjective symptoms,\nour patients reported reduction of tiredness and headache attacks, improvement of vision, and shorter\nsleep onset time. Conclusion: The applied acupuncture protocol showed improvement in the visual\nfunction of nystagmus patients and thus, in their quality of life. Further studies are mandatory to\ndifferentiate which group of nystagmus patients would benefit more from acupuncture.
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