Effect of oral CDP-choline on visual function in young amblyopic patients.

PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effect on visual function of orally administered CDP-choline in addition to patching for the treatment of amblyopia in children. METHODS: This was an open label parallel group study comparing patching plus oral CDP-choline with patching alone. Sixty-one participants (aged between 5 and 10 years) suffering from anisometropic or strabismic amblyopia were divided at random into two groups: Group A, 800 or 1,200 mg (according to the body weight) of orally administered CDP-choline and 2-h patching a day; Group B, 2-h patching a day. Both groups were treated for 30 consecutive days. A follow-up visit was set 60 days after the treatment was discontinued. The main outcome measure was the change in visual acuity of amblyopic eyes as measured by Snellen's E charts. The secondary outcome measures were changes in the visual acuity of amblyopic eye as measured by isolated letters (Snellen's E) and changes in the contrast sensitivity of amblyopic eyes. RESULTS: The addition of CDP-choline to patching therapy was not found to be more effective than patching alone after 30-day treatment. The present results showed that adding CDP-choline to patching stabilised the effects obtained during the treatment period. In fact, whereas the participants treated only with patching showed a decrease in visual acuity at 90 days, these receiving CDP-choline and patching combined appeared to maintain the results obtained (two-way ANOVA: P = 0.0042). Similar results were obtained when measuring visual acuity by isolated Snellen's E letters. CONCLUSIONS: In amblyopic patients, CDP-choline combined with patching contributes to obtaining more stable effects than patching alone.