Medium-term outcomes of three horizontal muscle surgery in large-angle infantile esotropia.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the medium-term motor outcomes of three horizontal muscle surgery in patients with large-angle infantile esotropia.

METHODS: The charts of 18 patients with large-angle (> 55 prism diopters [PD]) infantile esotropia who underwent bilateral medial rectus muscle recession and one lateral rectus muscle resection were retrospectively reviewed. Preoperative and postoperative deviations at last examination, overcorrections and undercorrections, necessity of additional horizontal surgery, and follow-up durations were recorded.

RESULTS: The median age of patients at surgery was 22 months (range: 10 to 168 months). Orthotropia to within 10 PD or less was achieved in 14 of 18 patients (78%) in a median follow-up of 32 months (range: 5 to 63 months). The mean preoperative deviation of 68.8 ± 9.54 PD decreased to a median of 1 PD (range: esotropia 30 to exophoria 4 PD) postoperatively (P < .005). Marked residual esotropia necessitating additional surgery occurred in 4 patients, but significant overcorrection was not observed.

CONCLUSIONS: The success rate of the three horizontal muscle surgeries appears to be high enough in medium-term follow-up in patients with large-angle infantile esotropia. Overcorrection that necessitates additional horizontal muscle surgery does not seem to be significant in the medium term, according to this study.