Short-term Perceptual Learning Game Does Not Improve Patching-Resistant Amblyopia in Older Children

To investigate self-administered, at-home use of a perceptual learning-based video game consisting of target detection of stimuli in different sizes, spatial frequency, orientation, and contrast as a potential dichoptic therapy to improve binocular function in amblyopic patients resistant to patching.

Children (ages 8 to 18 years) with strabismic and/or anisometropic amblyopia were recruited from a single institution. All participants (n = 25) were prescribed 6 weeks of patching for 2 hours per day, and those whose visual acuity did not improve were randomized to binocular perceptual learning (n = 7), monocular perceptual learning (n = 8), or patching (n = 10) groups for 8 weeks in this prospective cohort study. After an 8-week long period of treatment cessation, during which participants stopped patching or perceptual learning, participants in the patching group were randomized to binocular or monocular perceptual learning training; those in the perceptual learning groups remained the same. Visual function was assessed by visual acuity, low contrast acuity, reading speed, stereoacuity, and binocularity; compliance was evaluated by exercise logs.

There were no significant improvements in visual function parameters, which did not vary by treatment group. However, some visual outcomes, such as binocular summation and reading speed, correlated positively with compliance to perceptual learning therapy.

At-home, self-administered use of this perceptual learning-based video game-based visual training does not consistently add therapeutic benefit to those with amblyopia resistant to patching. Future investigation is required to determine whether methods to increase compliance will lead to more reliable outcomes. [J Pediatr Ophthalmol Strabismus. 2020;57(3):176-184.].