Korean J Ophthalmol.  2012 Dec;26(6):446-450. 10.3341/kjo.2012.26.6.446.

Postoperative Stabilization of the Strabismic Angle in Intermittent Exotropia

• Kwon J
• Kim SH
• Cho YA

• KMID: 1499683
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3341/kjo.2012.26.6.446

Abstract

PURPOSE
To analyze the postoperative strabismic angle for five years or more and to investigate when the angle stabilized in intermittent exotropia.
METHODS
We retrospectively reviewed the clinical records of 89 patients who had undergone surgery for intermittent exotropia. The postoperative strabismic angles measured were analyzed at one-year intervals up to five years postoperatively. We divided them into two groups according to their age at the time of surgery. Group 1 was less than 5 years of age, while Group 2 participants were 5 years of age or older.
RESULTS
For our 89 total patients, average exo-angles were 7.8 +/- 7.26, 7.9 +/- 7.51, 9.5 +/- 7.05, 10.1 +/- 6.87, and 9.4 +/- 6.90 prism diopters at one, two, three, four, and five years postoperatively, respectively. Average exo-angles between postoperative year one and year three, as well as between postoperative year two and year three, were statistically significant (p = 0.015, 0.022). However, the angles were not statistically significant between postoperative year three and year four or between years three and five, respectively (p = 0.707, p = 0.948). The stabilization characteristics of the angle were somewhat different according to age group. In Group 1, the average exo-angle in postoperative years one and three were statistically significant (p = 0.016), but the angle in the same period was not statistically significant in Group 2 (p = 0.203).
CONCLUSIONS
There was no significant interval change after three years postoperatively in intermittent exotropia, but if the patient's age at surgery was 5 years or higher, no significant change of exo-angle was found following postoperative year one in this study.

Keyword

Intermittent exotropia; Stabilization; Strabismic angle

MeSH Terms

Adolescent
Child
Child, Preschool
Exotropia/physiopathology/*surgery
Eye Movements/*physiology
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Male
Oculomotor Muscles/physiopathology/*surgery
Postoperative Period
*Recovery of Function
Retrospective Studies
Treatment Outcome

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Curves of mean exo-deviation measured annually after surgery. PO = postoperative.

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  Fig. 2 Graphs of the amounts of exotropic drift during the first two years and the total five years.

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