AbstractPurpose: To find out the usefulness of Pattern VEP in monitoring the progress of Therapy in amblyopic children and also to ascertain the role of Pattern VEP (obtained at the time of initial diagnosis) in estimating the expected visual outcome after therapy. Materials and Method: This was a prospective interventional study conducted at Upgraded Department of Ophthalmology, SMS Medical College and Hospital, Jaipur. 50 children <15 years of age with anisometropic/strabismic/mixed/isoametropic amblyopia fulfilling the inclusion criteria were included in the study. The diagnosed cases underwent Amblyopia therapy.  Follow up was done every 4 weekly interval for compliance to therapy and improvement in visual acuity. VEP was recorded at 1month, 3 months and 6 months. Results : In the present study, maximum number of patients belonged to 3-6 years of age (51.1%). They were followed by 33.3 % children of 7-10 years and the rest of 15.6% children in 11-15 years age group. At the time of initial diagnosis, majority of patients (31.1%) had P100 latency between 110 and 119 followed by 22.2% patients in 100-109 range. A decrease in P 100 latency was evident in our study. At initial VEP study the maximum patients had a P100 latency between 110 and 119 but after 6 months of therapy 37.8 % patients had P100 latency <100. At 3rd month only 2 patients had P100 latency >130 and at 6th month only 1 had >130 P100 latency. Corresponding to decrease in P100 latency there was increase in P 100 Amplitude of the affected eye after therapy. Conclusions: This study found that in amblyopic children, Pattern VEP showed characteristic changes of “Prolongation of P100 latency” and “Reduction of P 100 amplitude” (p<0.5) during the course of therapy. A gradual increase in visual acuity was also seen along with characteristic pattern VEP changes. Thus, pVEP can serve as an objective test for diagnosis and monitoring of children under amblyopia therapy. The present study also concluded that values of P100 latency obtained at the time of initial diagnosis can be used to estimate the expected visual outcome after therapy.

Keywords: Amblyopic therapy; Pattern VEP; P100 Latency; P100 Amplitude; Visual acuity.