CClinicalTrials.gg
RecruitingNCT03288948Updated Feb 23, 2026

Binocular Amblyopia Treatment

An interventional study of Binocular games for treatment of amblyopia in Amblyopia, sponsored by Retina Foundation of the Southwest. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 4 Years to 10 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-02-23.

Sponsored by Retina Foundation of the Southwest · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
120
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
4 Years to 10 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

To evaluate the effectiveness of enhanced binocular amblyopia treatments in achieving a more complete and stable recovery.

Read the detailed description

To date, all studies of contrast-rebalanced binocular amblyopia treatment games used the same 10% per day contrast-increment that was designed for short-term intervention studies lasting 1-4 weeks; i.e., after 18 days of successful game play, both eyes viewed 100% contrast (no contrast-rebalancing).This study will investigate two alternative protocols designed to extend the game treatment period beyond 4 weeks to allow for more complete recovery of visual acuity. The new protocols will be compared with the original 10% contrast-increment game protocol in an 8-week 3-arm RCT to determine whether one or both of the new protocols is more effective than the current 10% increment.

Based on pilot data, we expect about 40% of amblyopic children to achieve normal visual acuity in 8 weeks. In an effort to also promote recovery of binocular vision, children who attain ≤0.4 logMAR at 8 weeks will be enrolled in stereoacuity training at the 8-week visit for the next 4 weeks. Children with residual amblyopia (BCVA >0.4 logMAR) at the 8-week visit will be provided with dichoptic movies for additional amblyopia treatment for another 4 weeks.

02

Conditions studied

  • Amblyopia

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03

Who can participate

Ages eligible
4 Years to 10 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

  • age 4-10 y
  • male and female
  • strabismic, anisometropic, or combined mechanism amblyopia
  • amblyopic eye best-corrected visual acuity 0.3-0.8 logMAR
  • fellow eye best-corrected visual acuity ≤0.1 logMAR
  • interocular visual acuity difference ≥0.3 logMAR
  • wearing glasses (if needed) for 8 weeks or no change visual acuity with glasses at 2 visits

    • 4 weeks apart.
  • child's ophthalmologist and family must be willing to forgo patching treatment during the 12-week study period
  • parent's informed consent
  • child must demonstrate understanding and ability to play binocular games

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • prematurity ≥8 weeks
  • coexisting ocular or systemic disease
  • developmental delay
  • strabismus >5pd
  • any binocular amblyopia treatment in the past 3 months
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Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
120 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Active comparator
    Standard Contrast Increment

    Other: Binocular games for treatment of amblyopia

  • Experimental
    Reduced Contrast Increment

    Other: Binocular games for treatment of amblyopia

  • Experimental
    No Contrast Increment

    Other: Binocular games for treatment of amblyopia

Interventions

  • OtherBinocular games for treatment of amblyopia

    playing binocular games on a tablet platform 1 hour per day 5 days per week with reduced contrast for the fellow eye and high contrast for the amblyopic eye

05

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Change in visual acuity of the amblyopic eye

    ATS-HOTV for age 4-6.9 years or E-ETDRS for age 7-10.9 years

    Time frame: baseline vs 8 weeks

Secondary outcomes

  1. Change in visual acuity of the amblyopic eye

    ATS-HOTV for age 4-6.9 years or E-ETDRS for age 7-10.9 years

    Time frame: baseline vs 2, 4, 6, and 12 weeks

  2. Change in stereoacuity

    Randot Preschool Stereoacuity Test

    Time frame: baseline vs 2, 4, 6, 8, 12 weeks

  3. Change in suppression

    Dichoptic Letter Chart

    Time frame: baseline vs 2, 4, 6, 8, 12 weeks

Other outcomes

  1. Change in accommodation

    Accuracy of accommodation to a near target (Grand Seiko)

    Time frame: baseline vs 8 week

  2. Change in motion perception

    Motion-defined form

    Time frame: baseline vs 8 weeks

  3. Change in fixation stability

    Bivariate contour ellipse area

    Time frame: baseline vs 8 weeks

  4. Reading speed

    Reading speed in wpm

    Time frame: baseline vs 4 and 8 weeks

  5. Fine motor skills

    M-ABC

    Time frame: baseline vs 4 and 8 weeks

  6. Self-perception

    self-perception questionnaire

    Time frame: baseline vs 8 weeks

06

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
  • Retina Foundation of the Southwest
    Dallas, Texas 75231, United States
    • Pediatric Laboratory · Contact · 2143633911
    • Eileen E Birch, PhD · Principal investigator
    Recruiting
07

References and documents

Publications

  • Jost RM, Kelly KR, Birch EE. Risk of recurrence after cessation of dichoptic, binocular treatment of amblyopia. J AAPOS. 2023 Oct;27(5):298-300. doi: 10.1016/j.jaapos.2023.06.009. Epub 2023 Aug 23. PubMed 37619861 ↗
  • Jost RM, Kelly KR, Hunter JS, Stager DR Jr, Luu B, Leffler JN, Dao L, Beauchamp CL, Birch EE. A randomized clinical trial of contrast increment protocols for binocular amblyopia treatment. J AAPOS. 2020 Oct;24(5):282.e1-282.e7. doi: 10.1016/j.jaapos.2020.06.009. Epub 2020 Oct 9. PubMed 33045374 ↗

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No — we will only share aggregated data

08

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03288948
Lead sponsor
Retina Foundation of the Southwest
Collaborators
National Eye Institute (NEI)
Responsible party
Eileen Birch (Senior Research Scientist, Retina Foundation of the Southwest) — Principal investigator
First posted
Sep 20, 2017
Start date
Aug 31, 2017
Primary completion
Dec 31, 2026 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 31, 2026 (estimated)
Last update
Feb 23, 2026

Study contacts

Reed Jost, MS
Contact
reedjost@retinafoundation.org
2143633911 ext. 113
Krista Kelly, PhD
Contact
kkelly@rfsw.org
2143633911 ext. 113

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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