[Diagnosis and treatment of ophthalmoplegia]

The author discusses the signs and symptoms appearing in the course of so called noncommittant squints. Noncommittant squints are divided into squints caused by paresis or by a total paralysis of the motor muscles. One can divide the therapeutical procedure into the conservative and surgical treatment. The conservative treatment is carried out for one year since the onset of the palsy. After 12 months in the case of a lack of improvement a surgical intervention is performed. Surgical operations are divided into 3 types: 1) Rotation of the eye, that is to say operation of a recession-resection type--on the affected eye, 2) the principle paresis-counter-paresis or interventions performed on the muscles of the healthy eye, 3) transpositions of the muscles.

[Indications for pacemaker therapy in ophthalmoplegia plus and Kearns-Sayre syndrome]

Mitochondrial myopathies can affect the skeletal muscle, the central or peripheral nervous system, and they may be associated with chronic progressive external ophthalmoplegia (CPEO). In 7/29 patients with mitochondrial myopathies and CPEO a cardiac involvement (Kearns-Sayre syndrome) was found: incomplete right bundle branch block (n = 1), right bundle branch block (n = 1), left anterior fascicular block and right bundle branch block (n = 2), complete atrioventricular block (n = 3); congestive cardiac failure (ejection fraction 40%) (n = 2); 3/10 patients had prolonged infranodal conduction on His-bundle electrography (HV-interval 60 ms). The cardiac involvement in ophthalmoplegia plus is characterized by progressive impairment of fascicular conduction. The need for prophylactic pacemaker implantation appears to exist in patients with bifascicular block and prolonged His-ventricle conduction.

Treatment for refractory myasthenia gravis

An 8 year old girl with ocular myasthenia gravis was treated with high dose intravenous immunoglobulin and high dose intravenous methylprednisolone. Ocular symptoms recurred seven months after the start of the immunoglobulin. She has been in remission for more than 12 months after two courses of intravenous methylprednisolone, and administration of oral prednisolone was discontinued.

Vertical rectus muscle transposition and botulinum toxin (Oculinum) to medial rectus for abducens palsy

Ten adult patients developed sixth-nerve palsy after trauma or a cerebral tumor. No clinical evidence of recovery of function was noted by at least 8 months after onset. All patients underwent total transposition of the superior and inferior rectus muscle insertions to the area of the lateral rectus insertion, accompanied by botulinum toxin (Oculinum) injection of the ipsilateral medial rectus. These patients developed a mean diplopia-free field of 51 degrees, with a diplopia-free field in the abducted field of 20 degrees. This procedure involved surgery on only two rectus muscles, but the results compared favorably with surgical strategies involving three rectus muscles. Thus, the risk of developing anterior segment ischemia was greatly reduced.

Long-term results: botulinum for sixth nerve palsy

Eight patients with intracranial malignancies or vascular lesions and sixth nerve palsies were treated with botulinum toxin chemodenervation of the antagonist medial rectus muscle. Primary deviation ranged from 20 to 75 prism diopters (pd) of esotropia. Six were treated acutely (within 3 months of onset) and two, which demonstrated partial recovery of lateral rectus function but with residual esotropia and diplopia, were treated after 6 months. After a mean follow-up of 20.6 months, seven were diplopia-free with excellent rotations. Five had complete resolution of the esotropia and diplopia, with near complete recovery of abduction. One had 6 pd residual esotropia, while another, whose sixth nerve had been resected, required a modified Jensen procedure, resulting in full rotations. The single case of bilateral sixth nerve palsy had a functional improvement but was lost to follow-up. One patient had a vertical strabismus induced with the injection and had a gradual return of the esotropia.

[Use of nerve division in oculomotor paralysis]

Sectors have a double interest in an extraocular muscle palsy: to avoid the diplopia and to aid the reeducation of palsied muscles. Patient can alternatively wear the two types of glasses with sectors. Authors decrease sector's size when motility improves. They are stopped if regression, and in other cases, patients can wait surgical time with maximum comfort. Clinical examples are presented: VI, III and IV cranial nerve palsies and generalized diplopia.

Indications for pacemaker implantation in the Kearns-Sayre syndrome

The Kearns-Sayre syndrome is a rare condition, characterized by progressive external ophthalmoplegia, retinal pigmentary degeneration and progressive impairment of cardiac conduction, which mainly determines the prognosis. Two young patients (aged 13 and 18 years) without symptoms of cardiac disease presented with an electrocardiogram showing sinus rhythm, a normal atrio-ventricular conduction time, right bundle branch block and a left anterior fascicular block. Electrophysiologic investigation showed prolongation of His-ventricular interval at rest, which further increased during atrial pacing. Because of the potential progression of the conduction abnormalities and threatening sudden death, we decided to implant a pacemaker in both patients. Ten months later one patient had become pacemaker-dependent. Prophylactic pacemaker therapy is advisable in patients suffering from the Kearns-Sayre syndrome, who have bifascicular block on the precordial electrocardiogram.

Vertical abnormal retinal correspondence in three patients with congenital absence of the superior oblique muscle

Three patients with large vertical deviations diagnosed as palsy of the superior oblique muscle were found to have a congenital absence of the muscle during surgery. They also showed large, vertical abnormal retinal correspondence, which caused paradoxical vertical diplopia when the deviations were corrected with Fresnel membrane prisms or surgery. Each patient showed large, long-standing, vertical deviations for which head tilting could not have compensated.

Botulinum toxin treatment of acute sixth and third nerve palsy

Thirty-four patients with acute sixth nerve palsy and nine patients with acute third nerve palsy were treated with botulinum toxin injection to the antagonist, nonparalytic horizontal rectus muscle. In a control group of 52 patients with acute sixth nerve palsy not treated with botulinum in the acute stage, only 16 (31%) recovered spontaneously and did not require surgery. Twenty-two of the 31 surviving patients who could be followed with acute sixth nerve palsy had lateral rectus recovery and surgery was avoided. Four required prisms in their glasses to obtain fusion. Nine patients developed chronic sixth nerve palsy and required surgery. In this group of acute sixth nerve palsy patients, eleven were bilateral. Seven of these eleven developed chronic sixth nerve paralysis, and required strabismus surgery. This suggests the prognosis for recovery following botulinum treatment in cases of acute bilateral sixth nerve palsy is not as good as in the unilateral cases. Botulinum toxin treatment does not appear to be effective in chronic sixth nerve palsy, as judged by results of treatment in one patient known to have a chronic palsy. Nine of nine patients with acute third nerve palsy had medial rectus recovery with fusion horizontally in primary gaze. None have required surgery. Only four of nine showed improvement in vertical rotations. The remaining five patients avoid vertical diplopia by a compensatory chin position. Botulinum toxin treatment of patients with acute sixth and third nerve palsy appears beneficial. However, since some in this group of patients may recover spontaneously, a randomized, double-blind study may be necessary to more definitively determine the effectiveness of this therapy.

[Therapy of orbital and retroorbital space occupying processes with optic nerve compression]

Space occupying lesions involving the optic nerve require individual management. Graves' disease is first treated with cortisone: failures of treatment require radiation and operative decompression. Good results have been achieved with cytostatic drugs and, in acute progressive loss of vision, with plasmapheresis. Idiopathic pseudo-tumor orbitae disappears with cortisone, failures of treatment indicate malignant development of a lymphoma, which requires management with cytostatic drugs or radiation. Granulomatous infiltration of the optic nerve in sarcoidosis should be treated first of all with steroids before proceeding to operative treatment. Primary optic nerve tumors such as gliomas and meningeomas should be removed operatively if they are located in front of the chiasm and continue to grow. If the chiasm is involved, radiation is preferable. Doubtful cases of clinically almost indistinguishable pinealomas which are very radiosensitive require primary radiation therapy. Sinus cavernosus fistulas should be treated by selective angiographic occlusion of the fistula. If this is impossible, the internal carotid artery may be occluded by introducing a ballon catheter. Loss of vision after blunt head trauma should be treated with megadoses of steroids, operative treatment is only promising in cases with progressive loss of vision.

[The treatment of eye muscle diseases with botulinum toxin]

The author discusses the possible methods of treatment with botulin (Scott) in cases of blepharospasm, paralytic strabismus, and concomitant strabismus.

[Ocular myasthenia]

Ocular myasthenia is a special form of general myasthenia gravis characterized by unilateral or bilateral ptosis and eye muscle pareses of distinct variability, depending on the time of day and the state of fatigue of the patient. Most important for diagnosis is the Tensilon test, which can, however, produce negative results. In such cases a combination of the Tensilon test with electromyography is indispensable. In ocular myasthenia there is not always an increase in the antibody titer against acetylcholine receptors in the blood. The treatment of ocular myasthenia is based on the application of cholinesterase inhibitors. The drug of choice is Mestinon; however, the reaction of the eye muscles to this drug is often unsatisfactory. Local application of cholinesterase inhibitors in the form of Eserine, Prostigmin etc. is an additional important therapy. Also in ocular myasthenia the modern treatment with Cortisone (alternate-day therapy with 100 mg Prednisone every second day) has proved very useful. Another possible method of interfering with the immunological systems of myasthenia is immunosuppression with Azathioprin or Cyclophosphamide. The pathognomonic significance of the thymus in the autoimmune process of myasthenia gravis is demonstrated by the good results obtained by thymectomy, which can also be performed successfully in ocular myasthenia, not only in young patients in whom the condition is severe, but also in older patients in whom it is chronic. Often, the therapeutic measures mentioned have to be tested one after another or in combination in order to achieve an optimal therapeutic effect.

Possible effectiveness of plasmapheresis on the neurological complications in a case of acute intermittent porphyria

A 56 year old woman with acute intermittent porphyria presented mainly motor polyneuropathy, ophthalmoparesis of probable supranuclear origin and a mild organic brain syndrome. The neurological complications gradually cleared during a course of plasmapheresis. The fairly rapid improvement could conceivably have been fortuitous but it may well have been due to plasmapheresis.