Evaluation of the Role of Monocular Video Game Play as an Adjuvant to Occlusion Therapy in the Management of Anisometropic Amblyopia.

PURPOSE

To evaluate the role of monocular video game play as an adjuvant to occlusion therapy in the treatment of anisometropic amblyopia.

METHODS

In a prospective randomized study design, 68 children with ages ranging from 6 to 14 years who had anisometropic amblyopia with a best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) in the amblyopic eye of better than 6/36 and worse than 6/12 and no manifest strabismus were recruited. They were randomly allocated into two groups: 34 children received 1 hour per day of video game play for the first month plus 6 hours per day of occlusion therapy (video game and occlusion group) and 34 children received 6 hours per day of occlusion therapy alone (occlusion only group). Patients were then evaluated at baseline and 1 and 3 months after treatment for BCVA, stereoacuity, and contrast sensitivity.

RESULTS

In the video game and occlusion group, BCVA improved from 0.61 ± 0.12 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR) at baseline to 0.51 ± 0.14 logMAR (P = .001) at 1 month and 0.40 ± 0.15 logMAR (P = .001) at 3 months. In the occlusion only group, BCVA improved from 0.65 ± 0.09 logMAR at baseline to 0.60 ± 0.10 logMAR (P = .001) at 1 month and 0.48 ± 0.10 logMAR (P = .001) at 3 months. There was significantly more improvement in the video game and occlusion group compared to the occlusion only group (P = .003 at 1 month and P = .027 at 3 months).

CONCLUSIONS

Video game play plus occlusion therapy enhances the visual recovery in anisometropic amblyopia. [J Pediatr Ophthalmol Strabismus. 2017;54(4):244-249.].