Abstract
Purpose:
To evaluate if there is a correlation between BCEA and reading speed in patients with BRVO submitted to rehabilitation with microperimetric biofeedback.
Methods:
11 patients were enrolled for a total of 11 eyes, mean age 72 + 2.3, with diagnosis of BRVO. All the patients underwent the same rehabilitative protocol: microperimetry MP-1 (Nidek technologies, Padova, Italia) threshold strategy 4-2, Goldmann III stimolus, with fixation study that was quantified by calculating BCEA; 10 training sessions, once a week, 10 minutes for each eye, with microperimetric biofeedback. The reading speed was calculated by trial lenses with the addition to read appropriate for the age, on a text in Times New Roman 18 printing body, calculating the number of words per minute. At the end of 10 training session patients repeated microperimetry with evaluation of BCEA and measurement of the reading speed. Data obtained before and after rehabilitative protocol were related using Kendall correlation.
Results:
At the end of the study mean BCEA before rehabilitation was 4.88+8.89 deg^2 and mean BCEA after rehabilitation was 2.34+3.71deg^2; mean reading speed was 27.1+13.7 number of words per minute before rehabilitation and 32.54+15.23 number of words per minute after rehabilitation. Correlation between BCEA and reading speed before rehabilitation was 0.62 (p value=0.028); correlation between BCEA and reading speed after rehabilitation was 0.66 (pvalue=0.003).
Conclusions:
This study demonstrated that there is a correlation between BCEA and reading speed before and after rehabilitation, in which reading speed increased with the BCEA decrease. Increasing stability of fixation the patient acquires a greater ability to vision in the near work and therefore a better quality of life.