Comparison of binocular game and patching in treating mild to moderate anisometropic amblyopia: a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Amblyopia, as a neurodevelopmental preventable visual disorder, affects approximately 1.1 % in Asia. A binocular approach to treating amblyopia has been recently proposed. Whether the binocular playing game treatment is comparable to patching treatment needs further randomized clinical trials. To address this, the present research, designs, develops, and evaluates a new binocular game to treat amblyopia. METHODS: This study has been designed as a non-inferiority, randomized, two parallel-group, controlled trial. Forty-four patients between 4 and 12 years diagnosed with amblyopia will be randomly assigned to the control and intervention groups. In the intervention group, amblyopia treatment is provided with red-green anaglyphic glasses and a red filter placed in front of the amblyopic eye, along with a game to be played for 30 min twice a day. Those in the control group will receive patch therapy according to amblyopia treatment study protocol. The primary outcome is to change visual acuity in the amblyopic eye from the baseline to 3 months after randomization. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The Ethics Committee of Mashhad University of Medical sciences’ approval date was February 28, 2018, with a reference code of IR.MUMS.fm.REC.1396.783. Thus far, the recruitment of participants has not been completed and is scheduled to end in September 2021. The results will be disseminated in a peer-reviewed journal. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials IRCT20180217038768N1. Registered on 22 April 2019. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13063-021-05735-2.