Longitudinal evaluation of a precise ciliary body radiofrequency ablation for glaucoma treatment using multimodal imaging

Abstract

Glaucoma is a progressive optic neuropathy that is accompanied by the development of visual functional defects induced by elevated intraocular pressure (IOP). In the clinic, glaucoma is generally treated by pharmacological therapy and surgical intervention. Among the therapeutic techniques, cyclocryotherapy and cyclophotocoagulation can suppress aqueous humor secretion by destroying the ciliary body to lower IOP, but they lack precision in clinical application. In this study, a precise therapeutic ciliary body destruction technique, ciliary body radio frequency ablation (RFA), was used utilizing high-frequency alternating current to generate localized thermal energy to destroy the ciliary body. The effectiveness and feasibility of glaucoma treatment were evaluated and verified using multimodal methods, including optical coherence tomography (OCT), OCT angiography, fundus fluorescein angiography, and electroretinography.