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Early patching in amblyopia improves motion perception in sound eye
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WASHINGTON — Motion perception deficits were present in the sound eye of some amblyopic children, even though visual acuity was normal, according to a speaker. However, such deficits were mild or absent in children who underwent patch therapy at a younger age, Eileen E. Birch, PhD, told colleagues at the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus meeting.
Amblyopia is the result of discordant binocular vision and is caused by suppression of the non-preferred eye, Birch said, but little is known about how the fellow eye changes or adapts to the discordant experience.
Previous studies established that some fellow eyes have motion-defined form (MDF) deficits, and Birch and colleagues studied why some fellow eyes are affected with MDF deficits and whether that is related to the severity of amblyopia, its etiology or the treatment history of the patient and whether the deficit could be rehabilitated with binocular treatment.
Ninety-seven amblyopic children and 19 age-matched controls were included in the study, which used a motion coherence model incorporating a Star Wars theme to engage the children.
Amblyopic eyes had an 85% deficit in MDF perception compared with 22% in the fellow eye and less than 20% in controls.
“When we looked at various indices of severity of amblyopia, it was only stereoacuity that correlated with fellow eye deficit,” Birch said. “So the worse the stereoacuity, the worse the MDF deficit.”
In terms of treatment, there was an inverse relationship between the age at which the children were first treated with patching and the deficit in their fellow eye.
“The earlier treatment had less fellow eye deficit,” she said.
In 23 children who were tested before and after 2 to 4 weeks of binocular treatment, mean visual acuity change was 1.5 lines in the amblyopic eye, and in the fellow eye, the MDF deficit approached normal, Birch said. – by Patricia Nale, ELS
Reference:
Birch EE. Impaired motion perception in the fellow eye of amblyopic children is related to abnormal binocular function. Presented at: American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus meeting; March 18-22, 2018; Washington.
Disclosure: Birch reports no relevant financial disclosures.