Morphological and physiological changes of the eye in patients with congenital heart disease undergoing...

We studied 76 patients with congenital heart disease, whose ages ranged from 2 to 39 years. The following investigations were carried out pre-operatively and post-operatively in all patients: visual acuity, cycloplegic refraction, orthoptic examination, examination of the fundus. Where collaboration was sufficient the following were also studied: kinetic and static perimetry, adaptation perimetry, colour vision, electroretinography. There were no differences before and after operation of visual acuity, adaptation perimetry, refraction, electroretinography or of the fundus. Post-operative changes were only found in 4 of the 65 patients in whom perimetry was performed. By comparison, an identical study of patients with acquired heart disease showed the percentage of functional ocular changes to be higher in this group.