Feasibility of a clinical trial of vision therapy for treatment of amblyopia.

Purpose: We conducted a pilot randomized clinical trial of office-based active vision therapy for the treatment of childhood amblyopia to determine the feasibility of conducting a full-scale randomized clinical trial.

Methods: A training and certification program and manual of procedures were developed to certify therapists to administer a standardized vision therapy program in ophthalmology and optometry offices consisting of weekly visits for 16 weeks. Nineteen children, aged 7 to less than 13 years, with amblyopia (20/40-20/100) were randomly assigned to receive either 2 hours of daily patching with active vision therapy or 2 hours of daily patching with placebo vision therapy.

Retinopathy of prematurity in infants weighing less than 500 grams at birth enrolled in the early treatment for retinopathy of prematurity study.

Purpose: To describe patient characteristics, classification, and onset of prethreshold retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), and ocular findings at 6 months corrected age in infants with birth weights <500 g who were enrolled in the Early Treatment for Retinopathy of Prematurity (ETROP) Study.

Design: Multicenter randomized clinical trial.

Participants: Sixty-three infants with birth weights <500 g who developed ROP and were enrolled in the ETROP Study.

Epidemiology of surgical strabismus in Saudi Arabia.

Purpose: To describe the types and age differences of surgical strabismus.

Methods: Records of 4,886 strabismus patients who underwent surgery at the King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from 1982 to 1996 were analyzed. Demographic and clinical data were collected from all patients as a retrospective case series.

A review of primary care vision screening.

Introduction And Background: Preschool vision screening (PVS) is an essential component of detecting treatable vision loss in young children. Many state screening programs are struggling to cope with unfunded mandates. Neither school nor community screenings are standardized, and often result in both under- and over-referrals.

Frequency doubling technology perimetry in normal children.

Purpose: To test visual field thresholds of normal children with frequency doubling technology (FDT) perimetry to quantify testing times and reliability characteristics in a pediatric population and to determine whether current methods of stratifying adult threshold values need revision for children.

Design: Prospective cross-sectional study.

Methods: Ninety-four children, ages 5 to 17 years, were recruited from local pediatric clinics and the general community and were tested at one center.

The effect of amblyopia therapy on ocular alignment.

Purpose: We sought to describe the change in ocular alignment at 2 years after treatment of amblyopia in children younger than 7 years of age at enrollment.

Methods: A randomized clinical trial of patching versus atropine for 6 months followed by standard clinical care for 18 months was conducted in 357 children with anisometropic, strabismic, or combined amblyopia (20/40-20/100) whose ages ranged from 3 to younger than 7 years at enrollment. Ocular alignment was evaluated at enrollment and after 2 years of follow-up.

Strabismus surgery for adults: a report by the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

Objective: To describe the effectiveness and safety of surgical treatment of adult patients with strabismus, and to review the reported functional benefits and complications of strabismus surgery for adults.

Methods: A literature search was conducted in September 2001. It was repeated and updated in April 2003, with retrieval of relevant citations.

Intraocular lens implantation during infancy: perceptions of parents and the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus members.

Background: To determine whether a randomized clinical trial, the Infant Aphakia Treatment Study, comparing intraocular lens (IOL) implantation with contact lens (CL) correction for infants with a unilateral congenital cataract (UCC), is feasible by (1) ascertaining whether American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus (AAPOS) members have equipoise regarding these two treatments and (2) evaluating the willingness of parents to agree to randomization.

Methods: All AAPOS members were surveyed in August 1997 and again in June 2001 regarding their use of CLs and IOL implants to correct infants vision after unilateral cataract surgery. In addition, a pilot study was begun in March 2002 to evaluate the safety of IOL implantation during infancy and the willingness of parents to randomize their children with a UCC to either IOL implantation or CL correction.