Amblyopia (Lazy Eye) Treatment Study

March 3, 2008 updated by: National Eye Institute (NEI)

Amblyopia Treatment Study

The purpose of this study is to compare the results of two standard treatments for amblyopia in order to find out if one is more effective than the other. Amblyopia, which develops in childhood, is also called "lazy eye," because one eye is not being used properly. The brain favors the other eye for some reason, such as crossing or turning out of the eyes, and vision in the weak eye is reduced.

Amblyopia is treated by forcing the child to use the weak eye. There are two ways to do this: 1) a patch placed over the "good" eye forces the child to use the weak eye; or 2) an eye drop placed in the "good" eye once a day to blur vision in that eye makes the child rely on the weak eye. The success rates with both of these methods have been reported to be about the same; this study will try to identify if one is more effective than the other.

Children will be randomly assigned by computer to one of the following two treatment methods:

Patch

The child initially will wear a patch over the "good" eye for 8 to 12 hours every day. If vision in the weak eye improves, the patching time will be decreased. If vision remains good after 3 months, the patching will be stopped, unless the child's doctor believes treatment should continue. If vision in the weak eye does not improve, the patching time will be increased.

Eye Drops

The child will be given one drop per day of atropine in the "good" eye. If vision in the weak eye improves, the drops will be given less often. If the vision remains good after 3 months, the drops will be stopped, unless the child's doctor believes treatment should continue. If the initial daily drop does not improve the vision in the weak eye, the child's eyeglasses may be changed to try to further blur the vision in the "good" eye.

After 6 months, treatment may be stopped if it has not been successful. If treatment has been successful after 6 months, it may be continued at a reduced amount or stopped.

Follow-up visits will be scheduled every 4 weeks for the first 6 months and every 2 to 4 months after that until the end of the 2-year study. During each visit the eyes will be examined for eye movements and vision, and the pupils will be dilated to examine the inside of the eye.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The Amblyopia Treatment Study (ATS) has been designed as a randomized, controlled single-masked multi-center clinical trial with the following objectives:

To determine whether the success rate with atropine treatment of amblyopia due to strabismus or anisometropia in patients less than 7 years old is equivalent to the success rate with occlusion (patching) therapy.

To develop more precise estimates of the success rates of amblyopia treatment.

To identify factors that may be associated with successful treatment of amblyopia.

To collect data on the clinical course of treated amblyopia to provide more precise estimates of treatment kinetics than now available.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment

20

Phase

  • Phase 3

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Maryland
      • Bethesda, Maryland, United States, 20892
        • National Eye Institute (NEI)

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Age less than 7 years.

Able to measure surrounded single optotype visual acuity using the ATS BVAT protocol.

Amblyopia associated with strabismus (comitant or incomitant), anisometropia, or both.

No more than 2 months of amblyopia therapy in the past 2 years.

No current vision therapy or orthoptics.

Visual acuity in the sound eye greater than or equal to 20/40.

Visual acuity in the amblyopic eye less than or equal to 20/40 and greater than or equal to 20/100.

Inter-eye acuity difference (IAD) greater than or equal to 3 LogMAR lines.

No ocular cause for reduced visual acuity.

Cycloplegic refraction and ocular examination within 2 months of enrollment.

No myopia.

Hyperopic/astigmatic refractive error, if present, corrected for at least 4 weeks.

No prior intraocular surgery.

Downs Syndrome not present.

No known skin reactions to patch or bandage adhesives.

No known allergy to atropine or other cycloplegics.

Availability for at least 6 months of follow-up, has a home phone (or access to phone), and willing to be contacted by Jaeb Center staff.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

National Eye Institute (NEI)

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

May 1, 1999

Study Completion

November 1, 2001

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

November 3, 1999

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 21, 2002

First Posted (Estimate)

May 22, 2002

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

March 4, 2008

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 3, 2008

Last Verified

November 1, 2001

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 990110
  • 99-EI-0110

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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