A comparison of surgical outcomes between pre-and full-term patients with exotropia.

• Main Authors: Eun Hye Jung, Young Suk Yu, Seong-Joon Kim
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2018-01-01
• Series: PLoS ONE
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0208848

<h4>Purpose</h4>To compare the surgical outcomes between pre- and full-term patients with exotropia and to examine the factors associated with surgical outcomes.<h4>Methods</h4>This retrospective study included 48 pre- and 432 full-term patients with basic-type exotropia who underwent unilateral or bilateral lateral rectus muscle (ULR or BLR) recession. Preoperative characteristics and surgical outcomes were compared between the pre- and full-term infants. Additionally, factors affecting the surgical outcomes were evaluated in all patients.<h4>Results</h4>The preoperative characteristics were significantly different between the pre- and full-term groups in terms of neurodevelopmental disabilities (p = 0.020). There were no significant differences between the pre- and full-term groups in terms of the success, overcorrection, and recurrence rates after the mean follow-up period of 34.6 ± 13.9 months (p = 0.697). The major cause of surgical failure was recurrence in both groups. Pre-term birth was not a risk factor for overcorrection and recurrence. However, regardless of the pre- or full-term birth status, the presence of neurodevelopmental disabilities significantly affected final overcorrection (p = 0.004).<h4>Conclusions</h4>Pre-term patients with exotropia showed similar surgical outcomes to full-term controls. The presence of neurodevelopmental disabilities was a risk factor for final overcorrection.