[The effect of general anesthesia on the position of the eye].

In 100 children operated on account of strabismus the authors tried to assess whether changes in the position of the eyeballs during general anaesthesia with the stretch test can contribute towards the decision on the magnitude of the surgical operation. At the same time they compared changes in the position of the eyeballs during intubation anaesthesia by means of nitrous oxide and halothane with anaesthesia with ketamine, administered by the i.m. or i.v. route. They found that in 92% of the examined subjects the position of the eyeballs changed during general anaesthesia, most frequently the convergent deviation diminished. During ketamine anaesthesia the changes were more marked. The stretch test was in 73% of the patients normal, in 93% it was equal in both eyes. Based on the results, the authors conclude that neither the evaluation of changes of the eyeballs during general anaesthesia nor the stretch test can make the dosage of the surgical operation in concomitant strabismus more accurate.