Effectiveness of new techniques of intraocular stem cells transplantation in the treatment of retinitis pigmentosa

Abstract

Introduction. Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a degenerative retinal disease that leads to blindness. Recently, treatment methods based on new technologies have emerged. Among them is stem cells transplantation (SC). Purpose — to make a systematic evaluation of the results of control clinical studies of cellular technologies for the treatment of RP. Material and methods. The key words — retinitis pigmentosa, stem cells, control study — were used to search literature databases PubMed (250), WOS (172), MEDLINE (32) for the last 5 years. According to preliminary criteria, 88 articles were selected, according to final criteria — 4 articles. A total of 25 patients with RP were found. Control points of the analysis were: Baseline, 3 months and 12 months. Methods of analysis (events): Visual acuity (VA) and flash electroretinogram (f-ERG). Results. There was no VA increase in 15 (60%) of the blind (or with negligible vision of less than 20/1600 ENDRS) patients, and the f-ERG was unrecordable. In 10 patients (40%), VA improved from 0.1 to 0.4 logMAR and the amplitude of f-ERG increased at about 3 months after injection. At 12 months, the effect returned to the baseline values. Conclusion. The use of SC transplantation technology in RP helps achieve short-term (up to 3 months) positive changes in VA and f-ERG, which depend on the initial stage of RP and do not remain in the final stage. This evokes a question of repeated use of SC transplantation in the same patient.