Vision Therapy Versus Prism Treatment in Small-angle Acute Acquired Concomitant Esotropia

Accommodation and Vergence Exercises Versus Prism Treatment for Small-angle Acute Acquired Concomitant Esotropia

This is a single-center, randomized controlled clinical trial to compare the effectiveness of vision therapy and prism wearing for the treatment of small-angle acute acquired concomitant esotropia.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Esotropia
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Vision therapy group; Other: Prism

Detailed Description

Acute acquired concomitant esotropia (AACE) belongs to the category of concomitant strabismus. It is characterized by sudden onset, often accompanied by diplopia, and no change in the strabismus angle of each eye position. In recent years, with the increase in the use of smartphones and other screen devices, the incidence of AACE has been on the rise. Commonly used treatments in clinical practice include surgical treatment, botulinum toxin injection into the medial rectus muscle, and prism treatment. Patients with large-angle esotropia generally require surgical intervention to fundamentally correct patients eye positions and eliminate diplopia. However, surgical treatment requires waiting for six months in order to performed after the strabismus degree is stable. There are also risks of intraoperative trauma and secondary surgery. Patients with early and small-angle esotropia often choose prism treatment.

The principle of prism treatment is light refraction. After light is refracted through a prism, it falls on the fovea of the strabismic eye, eliminating diplopia. In the treatment of AACE, the main target population of prisms is patients with mild strabismus (the strabismus angle is usually less than 25 PD). Wearing prisms can eliminate diplopia and relieve related symptoms, but it does not really correct the strabismus problem.

The high incidence of AACE is related to excessive close work and use of electronic products. Excessive close eye use can lead to accommodative dysfunction. Studies have found that AACE patients have abnormal accommodative function. The accommodative function of AACE patients is weaker than normal, and the accommodation convergence to accommodation (AC/A) ratio is higher than normal. During clinical diagnosis and treatment, the accommodative function of AACE patients was examined and it was found that there was indeed abnormal accommodative function. Based on scientific research findings and the actual basis of clinical practice, improving accommodative function through accommodative training may be a good treatment option for early and small-angle AACE patients. However, existing studies have not fully explored the effectiveness and safety of accommodative exercise in the treatment of small-angle AACE, and there has been no study comparing the therapeutic outcomes of accommodative training and prism treatment on small-angle AACE.

In order to better guide clinical practice, we conducted a randomized controlled study to objectively evaluate and compare the therapeutic effects of accommodative training and prism therapy on AACE. It is expected that the research results will provide more treatment options for AACE patients and provide important guidance for clinical selection of appropriate methods to treat small-angle AACE.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 100
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Wen Wen, MD, PhD; Phone Number: +86 (21) 3423 3133; Email: wenweneye@126.com
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Shuyang Guo, MD; Email: m15880091363@163.com

Study Locations

• China
  • Shanghai, China
    • Recruiting
    • Eye & ENT Hospital of Fudan University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Aged 10-40 years (including 10 years and 40 years);
2. Best-corrected visual acuity no worse than 20/20 for both eyes;
3. Deviation angle less than 15 prism diopters (including 15 prism diopters);

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Organic eye diseases;
2. Lesions of the brain;
3. Receiving esotropia therapy(including surgery and prism treatment)
4. Devation angle reducing more than 10 prism diopters after refractive correction

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Vision therapy group; Accommodation facility exercises and divergence exercises	Other: Vision therapy group; accommodation and vergence exercise
Active Comparator: Prism group; wearing prism glasses	Other: Prism; wearing prism glasses

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in deviation angle at distance and near	the deviation angle measured using the alternate prism cover test	1 weeks, 4weeks, 12 weeks, 24 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Changes in stereopsis	Near and far stereopsis measured with Randot Stereotest pattern	1 weeks, 4weeks, 12 weeks, 24 weeks
Changes in accommodation facility	Accommodation facility measured with accommodative flipper	1 weeks, 4weeks, 12 weeks, 24 weeks
Changes in accommodation function	Accommodation function including accommodation amplitude, accommodation response, positive relarive accommodation, and negative relative accommodation measured with phoropter	1 weeks, 4weeks, 12 weeks, 24 weeks
Change in accommodation convergence to accommodation(AC/A) ratio	AC/A ratio measured with synoptophore	1 weeks, 4weeks, 12 weeks, 24 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Eye & ENT Hospital of Fudan University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): September 7, 2024
• Primary Completion (Estimated): September 7, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 7, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 28, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 28, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): October 1, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): December 9, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 2, 2025
• Last Verified: December 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Vision Therapy; Acute Acquired Concomitant Esotropia
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Nervous System Diseases; Eye Diseases; Cranial Nerve Diseases; Ocular Motility Disorders; Strabismus; Esotropia; PRDM6, protein, mouse
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2024-ATAACE

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO
• IPD Plan Description: We concerns about patient privacy issues and it's better to protect the publication potential.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No