[Efficacy of sodium carboxymethylcellulose in the treatment of dry eye syndrome].

AIM To assess the efficacy of sodium carboxymethylcellulose in the treatment of dry eye. MATERIAL AND METHODS We carried out a prospective, randomized, masked-observer, control/problem group, single-center clinical assay during a period of 12 months in 19 patients that presented mild or moderate forms of dry eye. Patients were clinically evaluated each 3 months and treated with a 0.5% isotonic solution of sodium carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) or balanced salt solution. Subjective symptoms, functional tests and conjunctival impression cytology were performed according preexistent schedule study visits. To compare data between groups chi squared (chi2) analysis was applied. RESULTS We observed a significant (p<0.05) decrease in the frequency of subjective symptoms and a significant (p<0.05) improvement of tearfilm interface stability after CMC treatment. There was a tendency to improve the degree of corneal surface wettability and the tearfilm integrity with higher percentage improvements in the CMC group compared to controls. Improved baseline values in at least one of the objective functional tests carried out (p<0.05) was also observed in an elevated percentage of patients in the CMC group (83.3%) compared with controls (34%). Furthermore, we observed a tendency to diminish the frequency of associated subjective symptoms after treatment. Conjunctival impression cytology did not provide significant differences related with therapeutic response. CONCLUSIONS The results show a significant beneficial effect of CMC to improve clinical parameters in mild and moderate forms of dry eye.