Abstract
Purpose: :
To evaluate the effectiveness of a newly designed reading program that combines awareness of a Preferred Retinal Location (PRL) in patients with documented central scotomas who are eccentrically viewing, and training in tracking, scanning, and fixation stability.
Methods: :
We recruited 10 patients (3 females, 7 males), ranging in age from 33 to 89 years. Their PRLs ranged from a location of 3 to 9 degrees eccentricity, and visual acuities ranged from 20/40 to 20/252 in their better eyes. A battery of vision and reading tests was administered at baseline, after 8 training sessions, and after 16 sessions. Patients participated in 8 weeks of training, with 2 two-hour sessions per week.
Results: :
Patients improved from a Median MNRead Acuity (Sentence Reading) of 0.97 logMAR (20/191 Snellen) at Baseline to 0.94 logMAR (20/171) following 8 sessions (T(9)=12.00, P = .81), and then to 0.90 logMAR (20/159 Snellen) following 16 sessions (T(9)=17.00, P = .32), compared to baseline. Individual letter recognition improved from a Median of 0.61 logMAR (20/83 Snellen) at Baseline to 0.50 logMAR (20/63 Snellen) following 8 sessions (T(9)=2.00, P = .05), and then to 0.48 logMAR (20/60 Snellen) following 16 sessions (T(9)=4.00, P = .01), compared to baseline.
Conclusions: :
The program proved effective in reducing the size of the text in sentence reading and in a letter recognition task for patients with macular disease.
Clinical Trial: :
www.clinicaltrials.gov NCT00746668
Keywords: low vision • age-related macular degeneration • reading