Surgical alignment prior to six months of age for congenital esotropia.
OBJECTIVE
To complete the first independent and largest multicenter outcome investigation to analyze the motor and functional results of a series of patients surgically aligned prior to age 6 months and followed for a minimum of 4 years.


METHODS
Sixteen patients, surgically aligned at an average age of 4.2 months, were examined at an average of 7.1 years to assess their motor and functional outcomes.


RESULTS
Motor and sensory tests showed 11 patients to have a small or negligible motor misalignment at near point with both binocular fusion and gross stereopsis ability. A single patient aligned by 3 months of age demonstrated reproducible refined stereoacuity on sensory testing. However, the patients who achieved alignment by 4 or 5 months did not demonstrate any better quality of binocularity than that found in a previously studied group of patients aligned at 6 months.


CONCLUSIONS
Binocularity that includes refined stereoacuity remains an elusive target and a rare outcome for an ophthalmologist treating congenital esotropia, despite very early surgical alignment.
Ing
M R
MR
Department of Surgery, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, USA.
D003867:Depth Perception / Q000502:physiology; D004948:Esotropia / Q000151:congenital* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D009801:Oculomotor Muscles / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D015348:Vision, Binocular; D014792:Visual Acuity