Pediatric CVI Eye Tracking

Cortical Visual Impairment Assessment using Eye Tracking

Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI) is the leading cause of visual impairment in children in the United States. In general, CVI refers to decreased visual function as a result of damage to visual pathways in the brain, rather than the eye. Despite its prevalence, there is no evidence-based treatment and no standardized method of visual assessment. Barriers to evaluating vision in children with CVI include developmental delays leading to communication challenges, as well as unique aspects of visual function that are affected in CVI and not captured by standard ophthalmologic tests.

SAIL BioSP team is collaborating with Dr. Melinda Chang at CHLA to devise an eye tracking-based method to evaluate vision in children with CVI. Eye tracking cameras record the direction of eye gaze while children watch images and videos on a computer monitor. Using novel analytic techniques, such as large language models, we have quantified deficits of lower- and higher-order visual function in children with CVI. In addition to validating prior qualitative observations, our work has also uncovered new features of CVI not previously suspected. We hope to establish eye tracking as an objective, quantitative measure of multiple aspects of visual function in children with CVI, toward a future clinical trial to identify evidence-based therapeutics.

• Supported by NIH (NEI K23EY033790).