Short-Term Results of Photobiomodulation Using Light-Emitting Diode Light of 670 nm in Eyes with Age-Related Macular...

To evaluate the short-term result of retinal functional behavior in patients with dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD) corrected by photobiomodulation (PBM) with 670 nm light-emitting diode (LED) light. Ten patients with dry AMD underwent a treatment consisting of nine PBM sessions with LED light of 670 nm with two cycles of 50 mW/cm², producing 4 J/cm² per dose in 88 sec. The studied eye was compared with the baseline (before therapy), and after nine PBM sessions, the following aspects were evaluated: best-corrected visual acuity (VA), retinal sensitivity, and characteristics of the correction area by the fundus automated perimetry using the Compass system. A functional and structural assessment of the retina was also performed using the multifocal electroretinography (ERG), optical coherence tomography (OCT), fluorescence retinography (FR), and autofluorescence (AF). All examinations were performed 1, 4, and 16 weeks after the therapy. The Chi-square and Student's t-tests were used for comparisons. The analyses followed the 95% confidence level (p-value ≤0.05). The BCVA significantly improved, from an average of 1.1 to 0.98 LogMAR (p = 0.01). The visual field examination, according to the parameters of mean deviation, standard deviation, and index of deviation of background perimeter, showed a significant improvement of -12.6% to -10.6%, 10.54% to 9.89%, and 56% to 60%, respectively (p = 0.02, 0.03, and 0.02, respectively). No participant had an adverse effect during the follow-up period; neither did any participant experience abnormalities in OCT, ERG, FR, and AF findings. In this short-term study, the PBM technique in patients with dry AMD showed the potential to improve VA and macular perimetry without causing significant adverse events. A larger number of patients and a longer follow-up will be necessary to further assess the success of this technique in these patients.