Trial reportNeural plasticity2019
The Effect of Combined Patching and Citalopram on Visual Acuity in Adults with Amblyopia: A Randomized, Crossover, Placebo-Controlled Trial.
Trial report in Neural plasticity, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- Research hotspots and trends of amblyopia treatment from 2015 to 2025: a bibliometric analysis.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Pooled it
- Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors for amblyopia treatment: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in neurologyPooled it
- Durable recovery from amblyopia with donepezil.Scientific reports · 2023Trial
- Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of RCTs on Efficacy of Conventional vs. Emerging Treatments for Amblyopia.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- The relationship between visual acuity loss and GABAergic inhibition in amblyopia.Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2024Article
- Mechanisms of SSRI Therapy and Discontinuation.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2024Review
- Comprehensive review of amblyopia: Types and management.Indian journal of ophthalmology · 2023Review
- Human deprivation amblyopia: treatment insights from animal models.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023Article
- Perceptual learning with hand - eye coordination as an effective tool for managing amblyopia: A prospective study.Indian journal of ophthalmology · 2022Article
- Recent Advances in Screening and Treatment for Amblyopia.Ophthalmology and therapy · 2021Review
- Article
- Rethinking amblyopia 2020.Vision research · 2020Review
- Cortical Tuning is Impaired After Perceptual Experience in Primary Visual Cortex of Serotonin Transporter-Deficient Mice.Cerebral cortex communications · 2020Article
- Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors may lead to improved cataract surgery outcomes in patients with amblyopia.Clinical ophthalmology (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2019Article
- Leveraging neural plasticity for the treatment of amblyopia.Survey of ophthalmologyReview
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Nonhuman animal models have demonstrated that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) can enhance plasticity within the mature visual cortex and enable recovery from amblyopia. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that the SSRI citalopram combined with part-time patching of the fellow fixing eye would improve amblyopic eye visual acuity in adult humans. Following a crossover, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled design, participants completed two 2-week blocks of fellow fixing eye patching. One block combined patching with citalopram (20 mg/day) and the other with a placebo tablet. The blocks were separated by a 2-week washout period. The primary outcome was change in amblyopic eye visual acuity. Secondary outcomes included stereoacuity and electrophysiological measures of retinal and cortical function. Seven participants were randomized, fewer than our prespecified sample size of 20. There were no statistically significant differences in amblyopic eye visual acuity change between the active (mean ± SD change = 0.08 ± 0.16 logMAR) and the placebo (mean change = -0.01 ± 0.03 logMAR) blocks. No treatment effects were observed for any secondary outcomes. However, 3 of 7 participants experienced a 0.1 logMAR or greater improvement in amblyopic eye visual acuity in the active but not the placebo blocks. These results from a small sample suggest that larger-scale trials of SSRI treatment for adult amblyopia may be warranted. Considerations for future trials include drug dose, treatment duration, and recruitment challenges. This study was preregistered as a clinical trial (ACTRN12611000669998).
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.