Results following eye muscle surgery for secondary sensory strabismus

To provide a longer follow-up after strabismus surgery for secondary sensory strabismus.

We investigated the follow up of 26 patients operated on for secondary strabismus: 7 convergent (SSC), 19 divergent (SSD). Inclusion criteria were fellow eye without any morphological disorder, and exclusion criteria were possible motility disorders or mechanical restriction: The mean follow-up time after surgery was 5 years 8 months +/- 4 years (1 year 8 months to 12 years 8 months) for SSC and 5 years 10 months +/- 3 years, 8 months (7 months to 13 years 3 months) for SSD, with p = 0.86. A statistical analysis of the results was performed with SPSS version 11.5 (Statistical Products and Service Solutions, SPSS Inc., United States). All statistical tests were 2-sided, and the threshold of significance was set to p < or = 0.05.

The angle of deviation for far distance was reduced from 20 +/- 9 (11 to 35) to -2 +/- 4 (-8 to 6) degrees for SSC and from -21 +/- 8 (-42 to -10) to -2 +/- 5 (-15 to 4) degrees for SSD. A correlation between the postoperative angle in far distance and the visual acuity (lg visus) of the affected eye was not found for SSC: r = -0.5, p = 0.24, but was observed for SSD: r = 0.52, p = 0.02. In patients with perforating injury, a correlation of the postoperative angle in far distance to the age at injury of the affected eye was found (r = 0.6, p = 0.05). Two of the seven patients with SSC and one of 19 with SSD complained of double vision pre- and post-operatively. All patients with SSC and with SSD were satisfied with the postoperative angle of deviation.

The results of this study indicate that, in general, we can recommend eye muscle surgery in secondary strabismus.