Motor and Sensory Outcomes of Infantile Exotropia: A 10-Year Study (2008–2017)

Abstract

We aimed to determine the long-term motor and sensory outcomes of patients with infantile exotropia. Methods: In this longitudinal retrospective (historical cohort) study, the records of 76 patients with infantile exotropia were Studied. Subjects with constant exotropia manifesting before the age of one year who were at least five years old at recruitment time between 2008 and 2017 were included. Results: The medical records of 26 patients were excluded due to not participating in followup examinations or having incomplete records. In total, 54 infantile exotropic patients (51.9% male) with a mean age of 11.1 ± 6.8 years and follow-up of 4.99 ± 3.58 years were studied. Postoperative sensory outcomes [central stereopsis (< 60 sec/arc), peripheral fusion (60-3,000 sec/arc), and non-stereopsis (> 3,000 sec/arc)] were observed in 38.9%, 38.9%, and 21.2% of patients, respectively. In terms of postoperative motor outcomes, 69%, 24%, and 7% were achieved as orthophoria, residual exotropia, and consecutive esotropia, respectively. Patients with a higher surgical age (p = 0.022) and better visual acuity (p = 0.004) had significantly better sensory outcomes, while higher preoperative deviation resulted in more suppression (p = 0.039; rs = 0.218). Conclusion: With rates of 69% for motor success and 78.8% for sensory success, surgical outcomes of infantile exotropic patients seems to be favorable. Further studies are recommended to verify our findings.