Personalized versus standardized dosing strategies for the treatment of childhood amblyopia: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND Amblyopia is the commonest visual disorder of childhood in Western societies, affecting, predominantly, spatial visual function. Treatment typically requires a period of refractive correction ('optical treatment') followed by occlusion: covering the nonamblyopic eye with a fabric patch for varying daily durations. Recent studies have provided insight into the optimal amount of patching ('dose'), leading to the adoption of standardized dosing strategies, which, though an advance on previous ad-hoc regimens, take little account of individual patient characteristics. This trial compares the effectiveness of a standardized dosing strategy (that is, a fixed daily occlusion dose based on disease severity) with a personalized dosing strategy (derived from known treatment dose-response functions), in which an initially prescribed occlusion dose is modulated, in a systematic manner, dependent on treatment compliance. METHODS/DESIGN A total of 120 children aged between 3 and 8 years of age diagnosed with amblyopia in association with either anisometropia or strabismus, or both, will be randomized to receive either a standardized or a personalized occlusion dose regimen. To avoid confounding by the known benefits of refractive correction, participants will not be randomized until they have completed an optical treatment phase. The primary study objective is to determine whether, at trial endpoint, participants receiving a personalized dosing strategy require fewer hours of occlusion than those in receipt of a standardized dosing strategy. Secondary objectives are to quantify the relationship between observed changes in visual acuity (logMAR, logarithm of the Minimum Angle of Resolution) with age, amblyopia type, and severity of amblyopic visual acuity deficit. DISCUSSION This is the first randomized controlled trial of occlusion therapy for amblyopia to compare a treatment arm representative of current best practice with an arm representative of an entirely novel treatment regimen based on statistical modelling of previous trial outcome data. Should the personalized dosing strategy demonstrate superiority over the standardized dosing strategy, then its adoption into routine practice could bring practical benefits in reducing the duration of treatment needed to achieve an optimal outcome. TRIAL REGISTRATION ISRCTN ISRCTN12292232.