Long-term follow-up of strabismus surgery for patients with ocular myasthenia gravis.

BACKGROUND: Patients with ocular myasthenia gravis (OMG) may develop strabismus and diplopia. We completed a retrospective observational case series to evaluate long-term surgical outcomes in patients with OMG.

METHODS: The medical records of all patients with OMG who underwent strabismus surgery with at least 6 months of postoperative follow-up were reviewed. Nine patients met the study inclusion criteria. The main outcomes, including ocular alignment, number of surgeries, and sensory status were evaluated.

RESULTS: Of these patients, initially 2 had horizontal strabismus alone, 3 had vertical strabismus alone, 3 had both vertical and horizontal strabismus, and 1 patient had vertical and torsional strabismus. The length of preoperative stability was 2.0 ± 2.5 years (range: 0.1-8.0 years). The mean preoperative horizontal and vertical deviations were 40.5 ± 32.5 prism diopters (PD; range: 0-90 PD) and 25.6 ± 36.7 PD (range: 0-120 PD), respectively. The average length of the follow-up after the first surgery was 5.7 ± 4.2 years (range: 0.7-10.6 years). Four patients (44%) underwent 2 operations. For patients requiring a second operation, the time to second operation was 2.3 years (range: 0.4-5.0 years). Six patients (67%) were within 10 PD of orthotropia at distance in primary position at the final visit. Five patients (55%) had single vision after their surgeries.

CONCLUSION: Strabismus surgery can achieve good long-term binocular alignment in patients with OMG.