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Safety and efficacy of a low-level radiofrequency thermal treatment in an animal model of obstructive meibomian gland dysfunction

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Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of a low-level radiofrequency thermal treatment in an obstructive MGD rabbit model. Meibomian gland orifices of the central two-thirds of the upper and lower eyelid margins were coagulated twice at 2-week intervals using a 5-MHz high-frequency electrosurgical unit. Sixteen eyes of eight rabbits were treated with one session of radiofrequency thermal treatment (radiofrequency group) and eight eyes of four rabbits were followed up without treatment (control group). Lid margin abnormality and corneal staining scores, histologic examination of the eyelids and meibombian gland, and meibography imaging were evaluated just before and 4 weeks after meibomian gland orifice closure and 4 weeks after radiofrequency thermal treatment. Lid margin abnormality score improved significantly for the upper and lower eyelids after radiofrequency thermal treatment (P < 0.001 for both eyelids). Corneal staining score remained unchanged in the radiofrequency group; however, the control group saw an increase at final follow-up. There was a significant improvement to almost baseline levels in the mean area of secretory acini in the radiofrequency group (P = 0.004). Additionally, meibography indicated an improvement in meibomian gland loss rate in the radiofrequency group. Low-level radiofrequency thermal treatment heating the inner and outer eyelid surfaces is safe and effective to treat obstructive MGD in a rabbit animal model of MGD.

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Data availability

The data used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Industrial Technology Innovation Program (No. 10052048, “Establishment of Hospital-Enterprise Connected Open R&D Platform and Product Development Specialized in Surgical Medical Devices”) funded by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE, Korea), by the Korea Medical Device Development Fund grant funded by the Korean government (the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety) (Project Number: 9991006821, KMDF_PR_20200901_0148), by Korean Fund for Regenerative Medicine funded by Ministry of Science and ICT, and Ministry of Health and Welfare (21C0723L1-11, Republic of Korea), and by a grant from the Asan Institute for Life Sciences, Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Korea (2022IP0019-1, 2021IP0061-2).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Jung Yeob Han and So Young Park contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, 88, Olympic-Ro 43-Gil, Songpa-Gu, Seoul, 05505, Korea

    Jung Yeob Han, So Young Park, Jeong Hye Sunwoo, Jae Yong Kim, Hungwon Tchah & Hun Lee

  2. Biomedical Engineering Research Center, Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Korea

    Hun Lee

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  1. Jung Yeob Han
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Contributions

JYH: study supervision, concept and study design, data collection, data interpretation, data analysis and statistics, drafting of manuscript.

SYP: concept and study design, data collection, data interpretation, data analysis and statistics, drafting of manuscript.

JHS: data collection, data interpretation, data analysis and statistics.

JYK: study supervision, revision and final approval of manuscript.

HT: study supervision, revision and final approval of manuscript.

HL: study supervision, concept and study design, data interpretation, revision and final approval of manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hun Lee.

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Ethics approval

This study was conducted in strict accordance with and adherence to the relevant national and international guidelines regarding animal handling as mandated by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) of the University of Ulsan College of Medicine.

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Written informed consent was waived for this study given its animal study design.

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Written informed consent was waived for this study given its animal study design.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Han, J.Y., Park, S.Y., Sunwoo, J.H. et al. Safety and efficacy of a low-level radiofrequency thermal treatment in an animal model of obstructive meibomian gland dysfunction. Lasers Med Sci 37, 2907–2915 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10103-022-03559-3

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