The application of general air cryotherapy for the combined treatment of the patients presenting with primary open-angle glaucoma

The present study was designed to estimate the possibilities of general air cryotherapy for the combined treatment of the patients presenting with stage I - II primary open-angle glaucoma. A total of 74 patients at the age varying from 42 to 67 years were examined. 36 of them (study group) were given the basal treatment and a course of general air cryotherapy consisting of 14 procedures carried out every other day. The patients comprising the control group (n = 28) received basal therapy alone including the potassium-enriched diet, medicamental therapy, and a course of therapeutic exercises. By the end of the treatment period, intraocular pressure decreased by 46 mm Hg and 2-3 mm Hg in both the study and the control groups respectively. It is concluded that general air cryotherapy introduced into the combined rehabilitative treatment of the patients presenting with primary open-angle glaucoma causes the clinically significant reduction in intraocular pressure, improves the quantitative photosensitivity index (in 67% of the patients), and decreases the occurrence of hemorrhages at the optic disk surface (in 32% of the cases).

open-angle glaucoma, general air cryotherapy, intraocular pressure, treatment