Combining selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and patching to improve visual function in adult amblyopia (“Lazy Eye”)

In adult patients with amblyopia, is citalopram combined with part time monocular occlusion more effective than monocular occlusion alone in improving visual acuity in the amblyopic eye?

Status

Completed

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Interventional

Source

ANZCTR

Registry ID

ACTRN12611000669998

Enrollment

Registered

2011-07-04

Start date

2011-09-16

Completion date

2013-12-02

Last updated

2020-01-13

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

None listed

Brief summary

Amblyopia, or ‘lazy eye’, is a developmental disorder of the visual cortex. An effective treatment for amblyopia in children is patching the healthy eye to encourage use of the amblyopic eye; however this treatment is not effective in adults because the adult brain does not have sufficient capacity for change, a property known as neural plasticity. Neural plasticity is the process by which connections between neurons in the brain are formed and strengthened by new experiences, and is an essential component of learning and memory. Recent studies have shown that anti-depressant drugs are capable of reinstating plasticity in the adult brain. This study will determine whether the anti-depressant drug Citalopram will restore sufficient plasticity within the adult brain to allow for short-term patching (2 hours per day for two weeks) to improve visual function in adults with amblyopia.

Interventions

Citalopram, 20mg per day for 2 weeks combined with monocular occlusion of the amblyopic eye, 2 hours per day for 2 weeks. Monocular occlusion involves wearing an opaque eye patch over the non-amblyopic eye. Citalopram will be administered in oral tablet form. This study will adopt a cross-over design with placebo and drug arms separated by a 2-week washout period.

Study design

Allocation

Randomised controlled trial

Intervention model

Crossover

Primary purpose

Treatment

Masking

Blinded (masking used)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

All

Age

18 Years to No maximum

Healthy volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Monocular amblyopia No ocular pathology

Exclusion criteria

A personal history, or family history, of mood disorder such as depression or bipolar disorder, diabetes, a history of drug, alcohol or nicotine addiction, taking medications or supplements known to alter moods such as St John’s Wort, taking medications which affect SSRIs, such as codeine (coughing, pain killer medication), being a postgraduate student supervised by one of the researchers involved in this study.

Outcome results