[Epidemiological and clinical aspects of Stilling-Turk-Duane syndrome]

In a retrospective study on 155 patients with Stilling-Turk-Duane's syndrome, we compare our results with those described in the literature. Particular focus was based on the different clinical entities observed.

Patients were selected from 8000 charts of cases of strabismus seen in the Ophthalmological Clinic of the CHU in Nantes between 1980 and 1995. An oculomotor assessment carried out for all of these patients allowed us to determine the clinical type according to Malbran's classification. Patients were classified on the basis of family history of oculomotor disorder and associated pathology.

The incidence of this syndrome in the population of strabismic patients was 1.9%. The number of women affected was 83 (53.5%). The syndrome was unilateral in 121 cases (78.1%). The left eye (71.9%) was affected more frequently than the right. Clinical entities not described by Malbran's classification were found in 24% of cases. These were described and classified. The oculomotor disorder most frequently encountered was esotropia. The number of patients with a amblyopia was 51 cases (32.9%). The number of patients with a torticollis was 101 cases (65.1%). The number of cases with associated medical pathology was 38 (24.5%). This pathology was ocular in 17 cases (10,9%) and extra-ocular in 22 cases (14.2%). The number of patients with a family history of oculomotor disorder was 39 (22.2%) among which 9 (5.8%) had at least one family member with Stilling-Turk-Duane's syndrome.

Data provided by this study allowed us to analyse the clinical and epidemiological features of the Stilling-Turk-Duane's syndrome. What is more, they allowed us to describe and classify clinical forms not described by Malbran's classification.