A clinical evaluation of stereopsis required to see 3-D images

Some children with esotropia who have been diagnosed as 'stereoblind' on the basis of conventional stereotests (which principally use static images with small disparity) may nevertheless enjoy stereopsis for three-dimensional (3-D) animations that use dynamic images with large disparity. The purpose of this study was to develop a new stereotest equipped with dynamic random-dot stereogram (DRDS) which has larger disparity with movement and use it with esotropic children to see if they can attain stereopsis for such images. Subjects were 17 esotropic children between 5 and 10 years old (mean age 6.8 years) who had failed to demonstrate stereopsis with the Titmus fly test. Seven children had infantile esotropia and 10 had partially accommodative esotropia. The test images were DRDS that were presented on a fluorescent screen (12 x 9 cm) viewed through a lenticular lens. The dots were displayed in circle and triangle patterns that have counterphase front-rear movement with maximum disparity of 800 s. Patients were placed with eyes at a distance of 60 cm from the screen and were instructed to point out the pattern (circle or triangle) that was produced. The average angle of strabismus was 7.7 delta by alternating prism cover test (5 m). Seven patients passed and 10 failed the DRDS test. There was no significant difference in the mean angle of strabismus or the age of examination between the two groups; however, the age at onset of strabismus was significantly higher in those who passed the DRDS test. These results suggest that the DRDS test is useful in evaluating the potential stereopsis in children with esotropia who do not pass conventional stereotests.