Aim: The aim was to evaluate the long-term motor outcome of superior rectus transposition procedure in patients affected by unilateral esotropic Duane retraction syndrome with residual esotropia and anomalous head position. Methods: A retrospective analysis of medical records of patients affected by esotropic Duane retraction syndrome who underwent superior rectus transposition procedure as reoperation for residual esotropia and/or residual anomalous head position. Amount of deviation, anomalous head position, duction limitation, globe retraction, presence of upshoot/downshoot, and vertical deviation were analyzed before and after superior rectus transposition procedure. Results: Twenty patients were selected. All patients underwent unilateral medial rectus recession or bilateral medial rectus recession, for unilateral esotropic Duane retraction syndrome at least 2 years before superior rectus transposition reoperation. Mean age at surgery (superior rectus transposition) was 12 ± 6.8 years, and the follow-up period was 2.7 ± 0.6. Mean deviations at distance and near before surgery were 19.5 ± 5.7 and 15.2 ± 6.8, respectively. Two patients showed upshoot. Head turn was 11.4 ± 5.1°; abduction limitation was −2.6 ± 0.9. After superior rectus transposition, all patients showed an improvement of esotropia at distance and near (8.1 ± 5.7 and 5.1 ± 5.6, respectively; p < 0.05), anomalous head position (5.6 ± 3.9°; p < 0.05), and abduction limitation (−2.3 ± 0.8; p < 0.05). No statistically significant changes occurred in globe retraction. No adduction limitation, vertical deviation, and upshoot/downshoot were present after superior rectus transposition procedure. Results were stable during follow-up. Conclusion: Superior rectus transposition procedure is an effective procedure in esotropic Duane retraction syndrome patients who previously undergone unilateral/bilateral medial rectus recession, with residual esotropia and anomalous head position. It allows improvement of esotropia, head turn, and partial recovery of abduction in a significant percentage of patients (30%) with no vertical complications.

Short-term visual rehabilitation performed by the VT program ameliorated the electrofunctional and psychophysical parameters of vision in children outside the critical developmental period, thus indicating that VT might be a potential adjuvant therapy of traditional patching treatment.

Our long-term results suggest that aBLR recession surgery is a very effective approach in patients affected by deIXT.

Accommodative esotropia (AE) is a convergent deviation due to an excess of the convergence linked to the innervational stimulus for accommodation and it is usually associated to the presence of hyperopia. The development of hyperopia over time has been widely described but the lack of comparative analysis among accommodative esotropia subtypes, does not allow to verify the existence of different developmental patterns. In this study we aimed to describe the long term changes of refractive error in patients affected by accommodative esotropia as a function of the strabismus type: refractive (RAE), non-refractive (NRAE) and partially accommodative esotropia (PAE). The medical records of 66 patients (24 RAE, 22 PAE, 20 NRAE), who wore the full correction of their cycloplegic refraction error during the entire follow up period, were retrospectively reviewed. Mean outcome was the analysis of the variations, among groups, of refractive error over time; differences between mild (≤3.00D) and high (≥5.00D) hyperopia, effects of amblyopia and relationship with AC/A ratio were also investigated. All patients were followed up from approximately 4 years of age to 20, with mean follow up of 16.06±0.29 years. Our results described similar non-linear trend of refractive error development among groups. The initial increase of hyperopia (up to 7–8 years) was followed by a decreasing trend persisting up to adulthood (approximately 20 years of age). During this period, spherical equivalent decreased at a lower mean annual rate in patients affected by RAE (-0.07D) compared to other groups (NRAE -0.11D, p = 0.003 and PAE 0.13D, p = 0.002). In all groups, however, significant amount of hyperopia was found at last examination; indeed the observed difference in SE values from baseline to the end of follow up, was not significant (RAE: +0.27D, 95% C.I. -0.49 to +1.04D, p = 0.472; PAE: -0.69D, 95% C.I. -1.67 to +0.28D, p = 0.154; NRAE: -0.39D, 95% C.I. -1.11 to +0.34D, p = 0.278). AC/A ratio, amblyopia and amount of initial hyperopia appeared to have no significant role in longitudinal change of the refractive error. In conclusion, this study provides a complete overview, from childhood to adulthood, of refractive error development in different form of accommodative esotropia.

Our present results, combined to those of our previous work on congenital cataracts, allow us to enhance the comprehension of functional developmental mechanisms of children's retinas and highlight the relevance of the timely treatment of lens opacities during infancy.