EyeWorld is the official news magazine of the American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery.
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Computer vision training could provide new rehabilitation treatment for glaucoma C omputer-based online controlled vision training could be a new form of rehabilitation treatment for glaucoma patients, based on the possibility of the neuroplasticity of the visual cortex allowing for visual improvement in these cases, according to a study by Bernhard A. Sabel, PhD, and Julia Gudlin, PhD. "Visual field defects caused by glaucoma can be improved by repetitively activating residual vision through training the visual field borders and areas of residual vision, thereby increasing their detection sensitivity," study authors said. The randomized clinical trial "revealed evidence that visual field loss is in part reversible by behavioral, computer-based, online controlled vision training, comprising a new rehabilitation treatment option in glaucoma." They concluded: "Neuroplasticity of the visual cortex or higher cortical areas is the proposed mechanism of action." The study was a prospective, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial in an ambulatory care and home training setting. A sample of patients with a mean age of 61.7 years with stable visual fields and controlled IOP volunteered for the study. Fifteen patients had computed-based vision restoration training for glaucoma, while 15 patients had visual discrimination placebo training in the intact visual field. The objective of the study was to see if one-hour vision restoration training occurring for three months and compared to placebo improved detection accuracy. The primary end point was a change in detection accuracy in high-resolution perimetry. "Vision restoration training for glaucoma led to significant detection accuracy gains in high-resolution perimetry (P=.007)," study authors found. The study was published online ahead of print in JAMA Ophthalmology. EW 18-47 News_EW March 2014-DL2_Layout 1 3/7/14 1:16 PM Page 20