An interventional study of Visionary: computer exercises using dichoptic Gabor Patches and band-filtered noise masks and Patching in Amblyopia, sponsored by Hospital de Merida. Completed at 1 site in Spain. Open to participants aged 4 Years to 12 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-10-20.
Sponsored by Hospital de Merida · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment
Interest in developing alternative methods for the treatment of amblyopia (lazy eye) has long been a topic of interest among clinicians and researchers. Occlusion or penalization of fellow eye do not always provide the desired visual acuity improvement. Moreover, occlusion is associated with a high risk of recurrence and non-compliance. Here, it is presented a protocol of a randomized clinical trial to evaluate the safety and clinical efficacy of a novel home-based system, based on a computer game.
The goal of this prospective clinical trial is to compare in visual acuity improvements in patients with amblyopia, following conventional patching therapy or this novel computer-based therapy.
The main questions it aims to answer are:
Participants will be divided in two groups according to the previous occlusion o penalization of fellow eye. Both groups will be divided in two subgroups, experimental and control. Researchers will compare subgroups outcomes in order to asses this novel approach.
Amblyopia is a common neurodevelopmental abnormality that results in physiological alterations of the visual pathways and impaired vision in one eye or, less commonly, in both.Disruption of normal visual development early in life may result in perceptual, oculomotor and clinical abnormalities such as instability of fixation, anomalous retinal correspondence, and lack of stereoacuity.Amblyopia has a prevalence of around 2-4% in children and is associated with refractive error (anisometropia or isometropia) and strabismus.
The Pediatric Eye Disease Investigator Group (PEDIG) has produced several studies that analyze the most effective therapies for amblyopic eye. The gold standard treatment prescribed for this condition combines spectacle correction of the refractive error with penalization and/or occlusion of the dominant eye
Interest in developing alternative methods for the treatment of amblyopia (lazy eye) has long been a topic of interest among clinicians and researchers. Occlusion or penalization of fellow eye do not always provide the desired visual acuity improvement. Moreover, occlusion is associated with a high risk of recurrence and non-compliance.
This randomized clinical trial is designed to evaluate the safety and clinical efficacy of a novel home-based system, based on a computer activity that uses dichoptic Gabor Patches and band-filtered noise masks. It combines the concepts of perceptual learning, dichoptic training, home based therapy and gamification.
The goal of this prospective clinical trial is to compare in visual acuity improvements in patients with amblyopia, following conventional patching therapy or this novel computer-based therapy.
The main questions it aims to answer are:
Participants will be divided in two groups according to the previous occlusion o penalization of fellow eye. Both groups will be divided in two subgroups, experimental and control. Researchers will compare subgroups outcomes in order to asses if this novel approach may lead to greater improvements in vision performance in amblyopic children as substitution of occlusion treatment in novel amblyopia or as coadjutant in persistent amblyopia.
189 studies on the registry are indexed under Amblyopia; 41 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 125 is above the median of 60 across 137 interventional studies indexed under Amblyopia.
Browse Amblyopia studies →This is the only study on the registry with Hospital de Merida as lead sponsor.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Exclusion Criteria:
GA-E volunteers (experimental) will be prescribed home therapy using computer-based exercises (Visionary) for 12 weeks, five days week, ½ half hour per day. Visionary target frequencies will be adjusted, considering BCVA, each three weeks. Contrast of Gabor patch frequencies will be adjusted to match patient contrast sensitivity thresholds. In case BCVA does not improve at least 2 lines in two consecutive visits (6 weeks), patients will change to GA-C.
Device: Visionary: computer exercises using dichoptic Gabor Patches and band-filtered noise masks
GA-C patients (control) will be prescribed occlusion following Pediatric Eye Disease Investigation Group (PEDIG) criteria: 2 hours for mild and moderate amblyopia or 6 hours for severe amblyopia. Patients will receive a calendar to track patching accomplishment. In case BCVA does not improve at least 2 lines in two consecutive visits (6 weeks), patients will change to GA-E.
Device: Patching
GB-E volunteers will receive occlusion following PEDIG criteria and will be prescribed home therapy using Visionary. Patients will receive a calendar to track patching accomplishment. Visionary target frequencies will be adjusted, considering BCVA, each three weeks.
Device: Visionary: computer exercises using dichoptic Gabor Patches and band-filtered noise masks · Device: Patching
GB-C volunteers will receive occlusion following PEDIG criteria and will be prescribed home therapy using Visionary. Patients will receive a calendar to track patching accomplishment. Visionary target frequencies will always be low, no matter patient VA. In case BCVA does not improve at least 2 lines in two consecutive visits (6 weeks), patients will be move to GB-E.
Device: Visionary: computer exercises using dichoptic Gabor Patches and band-filtered noise masks · Device: Patching
Visionary exercises are computer gammified activities that run on a computer with internet connection to facilitate home therapy. Patient must wear anaglyph glasses. Visual stimuli consists in dichoptic Gabor Patches presented to the amblyopic eye. Frequency is adjusted to actual patient visual acuity, and contrast to actual patient performance (contrast sensitivity). A band-filtered noise mask at the same frequency than the Gabor patch is presented to the fellow eye in certain ocassions.
PEDIG (Pediatric Eye Disease Investigator Group) recommended amblyopia treatment. Consist on covering a child's better-seeing eye with a patch for 2 hours per day for mild and moderate amblyopia or 6 hours per day for severe amblyopia
BCVA Best Corrected Visual Acuity
Best Corrected Visual Acuity is the measurement of the ability to distinguish shapes and the details of objects at a given distance wearing full refraction. Different optotipes are used to measure clinically this ability (e.g. Snellen E, ETDRS, etc.). Refraction must be calculated under cyclopegia following PEDIG criteria. Crowding bars can be added to the optotypes. In this study, amblyopic eye BCVA will be measured using visual acuity chart ETDRS whitout crowding bars, in logarithmic scale.
Time frame: Treatment will last 12 weeks, with BCVA measurements every 2 weeks. The stability control post treatment will last 12 months, with BCVA controls at 3, 6 and 12 months.
Stereoacuity
In this stuty Randot Preschool Stereoacuity Test (Stereo Optical, Inc., Chicago, USA) will be used to asses stereoacuity in arc seconds. This is a random dot stereogram that measures global stereopsis (or cyclopean stereopsis) and does not contain monocular cues. Stereoacuity is measured at a constant distance of 40 cm.
Time frame: Treatment will last 12 weeks, with stereoacuity measurements every 2 weeks. The stability control post treatment will last 12 months, with stereoacuity controls at 3, 6 and 12 months.
From the registry record's own update history. This site started tracking changes on Sep 25, 2026; for anything earlier, see the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
This study is completed, as verified in Oct 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.
Sign in to followQuestions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.
Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.
Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.