%0 Journal Article
%T Establishing the tolerability and performance of tamarind seed polysaccharide (TSP) in treating dry eye syndrome: results of a clinical study
%A Maurizio Rolando
%A Cristiana Valente
%J BMC Ophthalmology
%D 2007
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1471-2415-7-5
%X The activity of TSP and hyaluronic acid (HA) in the treatment of dry eye syndrome was compared in an open-label, randomised, single-centre clinical study. Thirty patients were randomised to receive three or more applications per day of either TSP 0.5%, TSP 1% or HA 0.2% (Hyalistil£¿) over a period of 90 days. The primary objective of tolerability was assessed by visual analogue scale (VAS), scoring of specific symptoms and the incidence of adverse events. Secondary objectives included improvement in stability of the precorneal tear film, subjective symptoms and corneal and conjunctival staining.TSP 0.5% and 1% were comparable to HA 0.2% with regard to both primary and secondary objective parameters.TSP 1% showed benefits over HA 0.2% for the subjective symptoms; trouble blinking, ocular burning and foreign body sensation.This study suggests that TSP 0.5% and 1% offer at least equivalent relief to HA 0.2% for dry eye syndrome. All treatments demonstrated optimal tolerability and are suitable for frequent use in the therapy of dry eye.TSP 1% produced promising results in terms of improvements in certain patient symptoms and suggests benefits of the TSP formulation. This study paves the way for a larger study to further establish the performance and safety of TSP compared with HA and highlights the need to expand this therapeutic agent to a wider dry eye population.Dry eye symptoms are most commonly treated with eye drops, the major component of which is usually a viscosity-enhancing polymer. Such formulations are designed to act on the mucus and aqueous layers of the tear film, replacing lost moisture and stabilising the tear film. An issue with currently available preparations is their limited residence time on the ocular surface. In this paper, we look at an innovative new treatment for dry eye, tamarind seed polysaccharide. It is thought that the increased retention time observed with TSP on the ocular surface can be explained by similarity of the structure of TSP t
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2415/7/5