Block-building performance test using a virtual reality head-mounted display in children with intermittent exotropia

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Pediatric Ophthalmology
• Virtual Reality in Medicine

Background:

• Childhood intermittent exotropia (IXT) is a common strabismus affecting binocular vision.
• Assessing visuo-motor skills in IXT patients is crucial for understanding functional deficits.
• Virtual reality (VR) offers immersive environments for objective performance evaluation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of childhood IXT on distance divergence and block-building task performance using VR.
• To compare the visuo-motor skills of children with IXT to those of healthy controls.

Main Methods:

• Thirty-nine children with IXT and 37 controls (aged 6-12) participated.
• Participants completed a VR block-building task with eye- and hand-tracking.
• Measures included distance divergence, block-building time, and spatial disparities at baseline and 3 months post-surgery.

Main Results:

• Children with IXT demonstrated greater distance divergence and larger spatial disparities in the VR block-building task compared to controls.
• These deficits correlated with the angle of deviation and distance control.
• Post-surgery, IXT patients showed significant improvement in spatial disparities, nearing control levels.

Conclusions:

• VR-based block-building tasks can effectively identify visuo-motor skill deficits in children with IXT.
• The findings support the use of VR for assessing and potentially monitoring functional outcomes in IXT.
• VR offers a promising tool for evaluating the impact of IXT on visual-motor integration.