Combined Office-based Vergence Therapy and Home Therapy System for Convergence Insufficiency in Egyptian Children

• Published in: The open ophthalmology journal Vol. 12; no. 1; pp. 12 - 18
• Main Authors: Nehad, Tarek, Salem, Tamer, Elmohamady, Mohamed Nagy
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United Arab Emirates Bentham Open 28.02.2018
• Subjects: Ophthalmology; Binocular vision; Convergence insufficiency; Orthoptic Therapy; Home therapy system; Office based vision therapy; Vision therapy
• ISSN: 1874-3641; 1874-3641
• DOI: 10.2174/1874364101812010012

Convergence Insufficiency (CI) is a common binocular vision disorder characterized by exophoria more at near than at far, a receded Near Point of Convergence (NPC), and decreased Positive Fusional Vergence (PFV) at near. This disorder is often associated with several symptoms that may disturb the person's quality of life. Therefore, diagnosis and treatment of CI is a vital issue. To compare therapeutic yield of Office Based Vision Therapy (OBVT) and combined OBVT with Home Therapy System (HTS) in patients with CI. The study included 102 patients with age range of 7-13 years. All patients underwent Convergence Insufficiency Symptom Survey (CISS) scoring, estimation of Near Point of Convergence (NPC) and determination of Positive Fusional Vergence at near (PFV) using Sheard's criterion. Patients were randomly allocated in two groups: Group I: received Office-based Vision Therapy (OBVT) and Group II: received OBVT with home reinforcement using the Home Therapy System (HTS). At the end of 12 week of therapy; outcome was determined as (all the following: CISS score of <16, NPC <6 cm and PFV >15Δ), Improved (CISS score of <16 or a 10 points-decrease and one of the following: NPC <6cm or by >4 cm, PFV >15Δ or increased by > 10Δ), (NPC <6cm or improved by >4 cm, PFV >15Δ or increased by > 10Δ) and non-responders. At the end of the 12 week of therapy, the applied therapeutic polices were successful in 48 patients (47.1%), the symptoms were improved in 30 patients (29.4%), improvement was insufficient in 13 patients (12.7%) and 11 patients (10.8%) were considered as non-responders. There was significantly higher frequency of patients with improved outcome in group II (86%) compared to group I (69.2%). OBVT with home supplement using HTS provided a high success rate, and it seems to be superior to OBVT alone in treatment of children with convergence insufficiency after 12-week course of therapy.