American degeneration is considered an incurable eye

American College of Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine Course: PD622-2: Research MethodologyProfessor: Dr. Maria HernandezStudent Name: Jin ShaDate: Jan 28th, 2016 Assignment #1: Literature Review     The effect and safety of acupuncture therapy in treating patients with AMD(aging-related macular degeneration)   Jin Sha  ACAOM? American College of Acupuncture andOriental Medicine?                           The effect and safety of acupuncture therapy in treating patients with AMD (aging-related macular degeneration)  Aging-related Macular Degeneration is the leading cause of vision loss, affecting more than 10 million Americans – more than cataracts and glaucoma combined. At present, Macular Degeneration is considered an incurable eye disease. Macular Degeneration is caused by the deterioration of the central portion of the retina, the inside back layer of the eye that records the images we see and sends them via the optic nerve from the eye to the brain. The retina’s central portion, known as the macula, is responsible for focusing central vision in the eye, and it controls our ability to read, drive a car, recognize faces or colors, and see objects in fine detail. There are two basic types of Macular Degeneration: “ dry” and “ wet.” Approximately 85% to 90% of the cases of Macular Degeneration are the “ dry” (atrophic) type, while 10-15% are the “ wet” (exudative) type. ? AMDF, 2016? According to the western biomedicine, until recently the only available treatment to seal leaking blood vessels associated with wet AMD was with a laser.

The earliest treatment was Laser Photocoagulation. Laser photocoagulation was followed by Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) with Visudyne. However, even the most successful treatments do not prevent relapse. These existing laser therapies are limited in their effectiveness and may also lead to scarring of the macula and additional vision loss. Therefore? alternative strategy of treating macular degeneration should be adapted. The acupuncture and herbal medicine combination treatment in traditional Chinese medicine are widely used to help this condition, but the safety and effect are still debatable. Xiaoli Nie? Pingqin Li? Qingmei Feng, Subing Liu, Zengye Wang, Jinxiang Hou, (1995) They divided 174 patients(324 diseased eyes) with aging-related macular degeneration into 5 groups, 20 treatment times, 21-40 treatment times, 41-60 treatment times, 61-80 treatment times, over 80 treatment times.

All the patients are given acupuncture treatment. They got a conclusion that treating AMD (aging-related macular degeneration) by acupuncture therapy, the less time of patient suffered from AMD, the higher chance to be cured. The longer time of disease, the less therapeutic effect acupuncture treatment will have. Jia Zheng, Wenting Liu, Zhijie Min, Chengyu Qu, Ren Zhang, Yang, Wang, Xi (2015) made examination that 194 cases (224 diseased eyes) of AMD and they were divded into 2 groups, dry(atrophic) group (group A, 100 cases) and wet(exudative) group (group B, 94 cases). The scores of visions in group A and group B were all significantly improved compared with those before treatment. While, based upon research, the improved rate in group A 94. 0% (94/100) (P <0. 05) were significantly superior to that in group B 41.

8% (41/98)(P <0. 05). According to the results, the acupuncture treatment works better on dry AMD than wet AMD. Shun Wang, Ren Zhang (2009) reported that a 45-year-old female with sudden blurred vision.

She was diagnosed as aging-related macular regeneration. As treatment plan, the patient was treated with acupuncture, e-stimulation, point injection for 6 months without co-interventions. Manual acupuncture was performed daily for 30 minutes, 2-3 times a week for 6 months by an experienced acupuncturist—Ren Zhang. Shun Wang (2009) reported that the patient’s vision was recovered from 0. 08 to 0. 4(right eye), 0. 01 to 0. 2(left eye) after 6 months.

Above all, Acupuncture treatment can definitely help patients with aging-related macular degeneration. The sooner the patients get diagnosed correctly as AMD, the better effect acupuncture treatment will have. Acupuncture also works better in dry AMD which is the major part of whole AMD patients. Moreover, acupuncture could be referred to an effective, economic and safe treatment to help patients recover the vision and raise the life quality. ReferencesAMDF? 2016? What is macular degeneration? Retrived from: https://www. macular. org/what-macular-degeneration Xiaoli Nie? Pingqin Li? Qingmei Feng, Subing Liu, Zengye Wang, Jinxiang Hou, (1995)Clinical observation on the treatment of 174 cases of aging-related macular degeneration with acupuncture of XIN MING point.

Clinical acupuncture journal, 450003, (11), 1 Jia Zheng, Wenting Liu, Zhijie Min, Chengyu Qu, Ren Zhang, Yang, Wang, Xi (2015)Therapeutic effect observation on the treatment of dry and wet AMDs with acupuncture treatment, 1005-0957(2015)04-0335—03 Shun Wang, Ren Zhang (2009) Refractory fundus disease case treated by Dr. Ren Zhang, 1005-0779? 2009? 03-0445-02