Duane's retraction syndrome: literature review

Duane's retraction syndrome (DRS), also known as Stilling-Turk-Duane syndrome, is defined as a congenital miswiring of the lateral and medial recti muscles, resulting in an impaired ocular motility syndrome that includes palpebral fissure narrowing. The incidence of DRS is approximately 1% of the total cases of strabismus. Eighty percent of cases are unilateral and characterized by either limited abduction, limited adduction, or both.

A 21-year-old man came to the clinic for a routine ocular examination without symptoms. A review of the history uncovered the presence of congenital, type I Duane's retraction syndrome. The examination demonstrated orthophoria in primary gaze, an abduction deficit O.S., and left globe retraction with palpebral fissure narrowing on right gaze O.S.

In most cases of DRS the eyes are straight in primary position and there is no amblyopia. Amblyopia, when present, is usually the result of anisometropia and not strabismus. Because our patient had no symptoms of diplopia in primary gaze (orthophoria) or in attempted right gaze (due to suppression of the left eye with abduction), prismatic and/or surgical management were not indicated, since the patient was free from binocular and cosmetic abnormalities.

DRS is characterized by abnormal development of the cells in the abducens nucleus (CN VI), resulting in restricted or absent abduction and erroneous innervation of the lateral rectus by branches emanating from oculomotor nuclei (CN III). Management may include orthoptics, surgery, or monitoring.