Bilateral Symmetric and Asymmetric Superior Rectus Recession for Patients with Dissociated Vertical Deviation

To evaluate the outcome of bilateral symmetric and asymmetric superior rectus (SR) recessions in patients with bilateral dissociated vertical deviation (DVD) without oblique dysfunction and determine factors that might influence the surgical outcome.

Retrospective study.

All patients who underwent bilateral SR recession for bilateral DVD from January 2012 to December 2016 at an eye hospital in New Delhi, India were included. Indication for surgery was decompensated DVD in 1 or both eyes. Symmetric SR recession was performed for symmetric DVD and asymmetric SR recession was performed for asymmetric DVD of 10 prism diopters (PD) or more. Patients with a minimum follow-up of 6 months were included. Success was defined as absence of manifest DVD in both eyes at the final postoperative visit.

Medical records of 27 patients were analyzed. Their median age at surgery was 8 years [interquartile range (IQR), 6-10 years] and mean follow-up was 16.3 months (range, 6-48 months). Symmetric and asymmetric surgeries were performed in 19 and 8 patients, respectively. The amount of SR recession performed ranged from 5 to 10 mm. The median DVD reduced from 9 PD (IQR, 6-14 PD) to 5 PD (IQR, 3-8 PD) in the right eye (P = 0.015) and 9 PD (IQR, 7-12 PD) to 6 PD (IQR, 3-10 PD) in the left eye (P = 0.016) after surgery. Successful outcome was seen in 63% of patients. There was no difference in successful outcome with respect to age, sex, preoperative horizontal deviation, preoperative vertical deviation, postoperative residual horizontal deviation, surgical technique, asymmetry of SR recession, and magnitude of preoperative DVD. Patients with a preference for fixation were more likely to have a successful outcome.

Bilateral SR recession resulted in a success rate of 63% after single operation for bilateral DVD without oblique dysfunction. We found that the probability of a successful outcome did not depend on age at surgery, sex, preoperative horizontal or vertical deviation, magnitude of preoperative DVD, symmetry of SR recession, or surgical technique.