A Retrospective Study on the Effect of Low Dose Atropine (0.01%) as Standalone and Combination Treatment in Management of Patients With Ciliary Muscle Spasm

Abstract

Purpose - The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the efficacy of low dose atropine in reducing the symptoms of ciliary muscle spasm patients. This study obtained ethical approval letters and reviewed medical files at Thomson Hospital Kota Damansara. Methods - Subjects in the age range between 13 and 40 years old regardless gender and race, and who have been diagnosed with ciliary spasm and was prescribed with low dose atropine as management were enrolled in this study. Relevant data such as demographic background of the subjects, their refraction results and reported symptoms were collected to be analysed. Subjects who had ciliary muscle spasm with other ocular diseases, and who did not return for follow-up within 3 months were excluded from this study. Results- A total of 36 symptomatic ciliary muscle spasm subjects with their mean age of 27.19 ± 7.31 years were analysed. Majority of them (47.2%, n=17) were prescribed with Atropine 0.01%, 27.8% (n=10) were given combination of Atropine 0.01% with Phenylephrine 2.5% or 10% and Tropicamide 1%, 22.2% (n=8) were given Atropine 0.01% with anti-fatigue lenses, and 2.8% (n=1) were given Atropine 0.01% with combination of Phenylephrine and Tropicamide, and anti-fatigue lenses as the treatment options for the patients. Among 22 patients, almost 47.2% (n=17) reported symptoms completely resolved, while 13.9% (n=5) had their symptoms not completely resolved. Further analysis using Pearson’s chi-square test showed no significant difference in term of success rate between the 4 treatment options. Conclusion - This study showed that prescription Atropine 0.01%, either as a standalone treatment or with other combination treatment did alleviate the symptoms of ciliary muscle spasm.