The authors compared conventional occlusion therapy for amblyopia with binocular viewing amblyopia therapy (MFBF) for effects on binocular vision and visual acuity. During MFBF the amblyopic eye perceives the target while the fellow eye perceives the background. Both eyes see the cursor but the amblyopic eye alone sees the target. The study included 54 children; 24 in group 1 with occlusion and 30 in group 2 with MFBF. All had anisometropic amblyopia and the dose was 2.5 hours per week versus 14-22 hours of patching. Groups 1 had a mean age of 8.12 ±2.65 years and male:female ratio of 2:1. Group 1 had a mean age of 8.80 ±2.91 years and ratio of 2:1. Age and gender were not associated with outcomes. In group 1 visual acuity was 0.62 ±0.33 logMAR mean improving to 0.42 ±0.29, 0.31 ±0.28 and 0.25 ±0.27 from baseline to one, three and six months follow-up. Mean logMAR for group 2 was 0.72 ±0.36 logMAR improving to 0.56 ±0.29, 0.37 ±0.28 and 0.18 ±0.38 from baseline to one, three and six months follow-up. The improvement was significant for both groups. Overall, the gain in group 2 was 0.54 ±0.38 compared to 0.37 ±0.26 in group 1 but this was not a significant difference. Those with stereopsis present in group 1 had significantly better visual acuity outcomes than those in group 2 (6 versus 3.5 lines). Compliance was slightly better for group 2 than group 1 (85 versus 75%). The authors conclude that MFBF was not superior to occlusion therapy. However, it warrants further consideration given the shorter treatment duration time and slightly better compliance and no need for patching with less parental monitoring.
Binocular viewing amblyopia therapy
Reviewed by Fiona Rowe
Effect of monocular fixation in binocular field (MFBF) on amblyopia – a pilot study comparing it with patching.
CONTRIBUTOR
Fiona Rowe (Prof)
Institute of Population Health, University of Liverpool, UK.
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