Journal List > J Korean Ophthalmol Soc > v.56(2) > 1010192

Kim and Choi: The Clinical Features and Surgical Outcome of Premature Children with Exotropia

Abstract

Purpose

We intended to investigate the clinical features and success rates of surgery in premature children with exotropia.

Methods

Twenty-two exotropia children with a gestational age of less than 37 weeks, or a birth weight of less than 2,000 g were included. The children had also been clinically observed for at least six months after surgery for exotropia. This study analyzed the results of their surgery in terms of gestational age, birth weight, ages at the first examination, and surgery, visual acuity, the angle of exodeviation at the first examination and the maximum angle of exodeviation before surgery, the frequency of accom-panied strabismus, and surgical results. Surgical success was defined as postoperative angle of deviation less than 10 PD. The patients were divided into success and failure groups, and a comparative analysis was performed between the 2 groups.

Results

The mean maximum angle of exodeviation before surgery was 28.4 ± 8.2 PD at far distance and 28.5 ± 8.3 PD at near distance. The mean angle of exodeviation at last visit after surgery was decreased to 8.0 ± 14.2 PD at far distance and 9.1 ± 14.8 PD at near distance. The success rate of surgery was measured to be 59.1% at the last visit. Recurrence was a major cause of failure, which occurred in eight cases (36.4%). The angle of exodeviation at the first examination and the maximum angle of exo-deviation in the failure group were higher than in the success group with statistical significance. The incidence of vertical strabismus before or after the surgery was 45.6% (10 cases) and there was no statistically significant difference between the 2 groups.

Conclusions

The premature children with exotropia had a relatively low surgical success rate and the major cause of the surgical failure was the recurrence of exotropia. The degree of the angle of deviation at the first examination and the maximum angle of exodeviation before surgery was an influential factor on the surgical results.

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Figure 1.
Change of deviated angle during the follow-up after surgery in total patients.
jkos-56-241f1.tif
Figure 2.
Change of angle of deviation during the follow-up after surgery in 3 groups. A: patients who maintained post-operative angle of deviation less than 10 prism diopter (PD) at last visit; B: patients of recurred exotropia at last visit; C: patients of consecutive esotropia at last visit.
jkos-56-241f2.tif
Table 1.
Surgical outcome of exotropia according to retinopathy of prematurity
  Retinopathy of prematurity (n)
  (+) (-)
Surgical success (n) 6 7
Surgical failure (n) 4 5

Fisher’s exact test, p = 0.639; (+): history of retinopathy of prematurity, (-): no history of retinopathy of prematurity.

Table 2.
Surgical outcome of exotropia according to operation for retinopathy of prematurity
  Operation for retinopathy of prematurity (n)
  (+) (-)
Surgical success (n) 0 6
Surgical failure (n) 2 2

Fisher’s exact test, p = 0.133; (+): history of operation for retinopathy of prematurity, (-): no history of operation for retinopathy of prematurity.

Table 3.
Associated central nervous system abnormalities
Central nervous system abnormalities Number of patients
Intraventricular hemorrhage 2
Germinal matrix hemorrhage 1
Cerebral palsy 3
Seizure 1
Encephalomalacia 1
Table 4.
The demographic and baseline characteristics of premature children with exotropia
  Patients (n = 22)
Sex (M:F) (n) 10:12
Gestational age (weeks, range) 31.6 ± 3.3 (25 to 36)
Birth weight (gram, range) 1516.3 ± 426.4 (690 to 2270)
Age of diagnosis (years, range) 3.8 ± 3.0 (1 to 12)
Age of surgery (years, range) 6.3 ± 2.4 (2 to 12)
Angle of exodeviation at first examination (PD, range)  
  Near 24.6 ± 9.0 (10 to 50)
  Far 23.6 ± 9.2 (10 to 50)
Angle of exodeviation at operation (PD, range)  
  Near 28.5 ± 8.3 (12 to 50)
  Far 28.4 ± 8.2 (15 to 50)
Follow-up (month, range) 24.0 ± 16.4 (6 to 48)
Vertical strabismus (n) 10
Retinopathy of prematurity (n) 10
  Spontaneous regression 8
  Cryotherapy 2
The type of refractive error (n)  
  Myopia 7
  Emmetropia 23
  Hyperopia 3
  Astigmatism 11
Amblyopia (n) 5

Values are presented as mean ± SD unless otherwise indicated.

Table 5.
Comparison of preoperative and postoperative data between surgical success group and surgical failure group
  Surgical success group (n = 13) Surgical failure group (n = 9) p-value
Sex (M:F) 7:6 3:6 0.42
Gestational age (weeks, range) 31.4 ± 2.8 (25 to 36) 31.8 ± 4.2 (25 to 36) 0.56
Birth weight (gram, range) 1491.5 ± 420.6 (690 to 2,100) 1552.0 ± 457.7 (882 to 2,270) 0.95
Age of diagnosis (years, range) 4.4 ± 3.7 (1 to 12) 2.9 ± 1.3 (1 to 4) 0.74
Age at surgery (years, range) 7.1 ± 2.3 (5 to 12) 5.1 ± 2.0 (2 to 9) 0.06
Follow-up (months, range) 22.2 ± 16.7 (6 to 48) 26.7 ± 16.5 (6 to 48) 0.56
Angle of exodeviation at first examination (PD, range)
  Near 20.4 ± 4.8 (10 to 25) 30.6 ± 10.4 (15 to 50) 0.01
  Far 19.2 ± 4.5 (10 to 25) 30.0 ± 10.6 (15 to 50) 0.01
Angle of exodeviation at operation (PD, range)
  Near 25.4 ± 4.8 (15 to 30) 33.0 ± 10.4 (12 to 50) 0.02
  Far 24.6 ± 4.3 (15 to 30) 33.9 ± 9.6 (20 to 50) 0.02
Postoperative angle of deviation at last visit (PD, range)
  Near 3.1 ± 4.2 (0 to 10) 17.8 ± 20.2 (-30 to 40) 0.00
  Far 2.6 ± 3.6 (0 to 10) 15.8 ± 19.9 (-30 to 40) 0.00
Vertical strabismus (n) 5 5 0.67
Amblyopia (n) 2 3 0.61

Values are presented as mean ± SD unless otherwise indicated.

Fisher’s exact test

Mann-Whitney U-test.

Table 6.
Comparison of degree of refractive errors between surgical success group and surgical failure group
  Surgical success group (diopter) Surgical failure group (diopter) p-value
Myopia -0.71 ± 0.10 -0.75 ± 0.00 0.86
Emmetropia +1.26 ± 0.50 +1.17 ± 0.74 0.38
Hyperopia +3.50 ± 0.00 +4.50 ± 0.00 0.67
Astigmatism 1.59 ± 0.38 1.95 ± 0.62 0.17

Values are presented as mean ± SD.

Mann-Whitney U-test.

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