Abstract:AIM: To study the change of torsion in both eyes after unilateral inferior oblique (IO) weakening on children with congenital superior oblique palsy (SOP). METHODS: This retrospective study enrolled all patients diagnosed with unilateral congenital superior oblique palsy (UCSOP) accompanied by inferior oblique overaction (IOOA). A total of 120 eyes of 60 patients were divided into group 1 (more extorted paretic eye) and group 2 (more extorted nonparetic eye). The degree of fundus torsion was evaluated before and 1mo after the IO weakening procedure. The torsion of the fundus was recorded by measuring the disk-foveal angle (DFA) using fundus photography. RESULTS: Group 1 included 26 cases and group 2 included 34 cases, thus the rate of extorsion was insignificantly higher in the nonparetic eye (P=0.10). The preoperative DFA in the paretic and nonparetic eyes was 13.21±5.95, 7.97±4.25 in group 1, and 4.65±3.79, 13.16±5.35 in group 2 (both P<0.001). The postoperative DFA in the paretic and nonparetic eyes was 8.57±4.87, 7.32±4.27 in group 1 (P=0.24), and 3.85±6.00 and 9.94±5.45 in group 2 (P<0.001). The amount of postoperative reduction of the DFA in the paretic and nonparetic eyes was 4.64±3.90, 0.65±0.76 in group 1 (P=0.002), and 0.80±0.81, 3.21±5.50 in group 2 (P=0.01). The difference in the amount of reduction of DFA in the more extorted eye in group 1 (paretic eye) vs group 2 (nonparetic eye) was insignificant (P=0.30). CONCLUSION: Excyclotorsion in the nonparetic eye has a similar probability in the paretic eye in UCSOP children, and weakening of the ipsilateral IO has a more obvious effect on the decrement of extorsion in the more extorted eye regardless of which eye is paretic.
