Surgery for Complete Vertical Rectus Paralysis Combined with Horizontal Strabismus

Aims. To report outcomes of the simultaneous surgical correction of vertical rectus paralysis combined with moderate-to-large angle horizontal strabismus. Methods. If a preoperative forced duction test was positive, antagonist muscle weakening surgery was performed, and then augmented partial rectus muscle transposition (APRMT) + partial horizontal rectus recession-resection was performed 2 months later. If a preoperative forced duction test was negative, APRMT + partial horizontal rectus recession-resection was performed. Antagonistic muscle weakening surgery and/or conventional recession-resection of the horizontal and/or vertical muscles of the contralateral eye was performed 2 months later, as needed. Results. Ten patients with a mean age of 22.3 ± 13.0 years were included and mean follow-up was 7.1 months. The mean vertical deviation that APRMT corrected was 21.4 ± 3.7 PD (prism diopter). The absolute deviation in horizontal significantly decreased from a preoperative value of 48.5 ± 27.4 PD to a value of 3.0 ± 2.3 PD 6 months postoperatively. The movement score decreased from a value of -5 ± 0 preoperatively to a value of -2.7 ± 0.8 at 6 months postoperatively. Conclusion. For patients with complete vertical rectus paralysis combined with a moderate- to-large angle of horizontal strabismus, combined APRMT and partial horizontal rectus recession-resection is safe and effective for correcting vertical and horizontal strabismus.