Transcorneal Electrical Stimulation for the Treatment of Visual Field Defects in Patients With Open-Angle Glaucoma

Electrical stimulation therapy with the OkuStim System can help patients with retinitis pigmentosa and other hereditary retinal diseases slow the progression of visual field defects and thus preserve usable vision for longer. Since degenerative processes in the retina also lead to loss of vision in patients with glaucoma, the desired clinical benefit in this group of patients is also to slow down the decline in the visual field.

This is a prospective, single-center, randomized, sham-controlled, double-masked pilot study in a parallel group design. Patients are assigned 1:1 to one of two different groups: Sham group (sham treatment) or TES with maximum tolerated current intensity below the pain threshold (tolerance threshold). Patients are stimulated in one eye (study eye). Since these are patients with progressive visual field defects and the experimental therapy is being compared with a sham treatment, the patients also receive pressure-lowering eye drops ("treatment as usual", "TAU") to ensure the safety of the study participant. Treatment duration is 18 months for each patient, with application of TES once a week for 30min.