On infantile esotropia with nystagmus in abduction

Infantile esotropia with nystagmus in abduction is characterized by early onset, jerk nystagmus in abduction, and dissociated vertical deviation, among other features. Electro-oculographic tracings present easily recognizable patterns both in saccadic and pursuit movements. Visual evoked responses are asymmetric in most cases and optokinetic nystagmus is invariably asymmetric. Visual cortex maldevelopment seems to play a major pathogenic role. Recent findings in myelomeningocele and in patients with posterior fossa tumors suggest that pathological alterations in this area may tend to induce similar anomalies in electro-oculographic and optokinetic nystagmus recordings. Posterior fossa damage or impairment is therefore suspected to be a possible causative factor in the development of infantile esotropia with nystagmus in abduction.